A bombshell new report from the New York Times also discusses how the rapper (now known as Ye) would throw shoes and make staffers watch porn during meetings
Last October, Adidas finally dropped their long-term partner Kanye West after the rapper made a slew of antisemitic comments (among other things). This was despite the fact that Yeezy, their sneaker partnership, was netting the company over $1 billion annually. For many staffers, it was too little, too late. While Adidas employees have come forward with allegations of exceedingly bad behavior from the rapper (now known as Ye) in the past, a lengthy new report from The New York Times delves deeper into the decade-long collaboration than any have before. What it found is stomach-churning.
Apparently, employees were confronted with West’s rampant antisemitism as soon as their very first pitch meeting with the rapper. After reviewing a number of unsatisfactory fabric swatches and shoe designs, West allegedly grabbed one of the sketches and drew a swastika on the toe to convey his dislike of the sneaker. It only got worse from there.
As Ye ramped up his antisemitism in public last fall, he also doubled down behind the scenes. Employees reported that West repeatedly commended Hitler for his use of propaganda, calling the genocidal dictator a “marketing master” and saying he planned to name his next album after him. (It was eventually titled Ye.) Most egregiously, West apparently told TMZ that “it was important to love everyone, including Nazis” in the same interview in which he infamously said that slavery “sounds like a choice.” Back in the office, West stood by that statement, telling Jon Wexler, a Jewish Adidas executive, to “hang a photo of Hitler in his kitchen and kiss it every day to practice unconditional love.”
read more: https://www.avclub.com/kanye-west-adidas-yeezy-new-york-time-report-1850968306
archive link: https://archive.ph/RWHHH
@flicker I know it’s probably comforting to think to yourself that your entire personality and belief systems are baked into your core and could never be affected by any kind of illness.
Unfortunately it’s not quite true, there are serious mental illnesses that could make you think you are a nazi or that you want to kill someone or whatever. This is one of the heartbreaking things about mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
If you’ve never seen it you wouldn’t know what it’s like of course, but it’s like a great big chunk of the person you used to know and love has been replaced by a stranger in their body. When they start saying abberent shit it can be hard for people to remember it’s the illness talking. To remember they are still “in there” somewhere.
I’m not going to get into my history here but I’ve spent years in and out of institutions. If you want to make the argument that this is schizoaffective disorder I won’t stop you, but I assure you that even if that is the case, we are still completely responsible for what we say, and I would argue even moreso because there is zero excuse for him not to be seeking care and treatment.
When grandma has dementia, and spits and bites, she is still responsible for the consequences of her actions. We will treat her with kindness and compassion and health care, but she isn’t absolved of her part in hurting someone. That is the notion I rebel against. You are still responsible for your racism. You are not given a consequence free card because of your illness. Advocating for a consequence free environment is why people can claim Kanye should be forgiven and should not be treated as an intelligent, thinking, feeling human being. I will not allow someone to say he should be. That is dehumanizing and ultimately the opposite of kindness.