Adidas boss Bjørn Gulden defends Kanye West’s anti-Semitic outbursts and says he ‘doesn’t think he meant what he said’
Adidas boss Bjørn Gulden defends Kanye West’s anti-Semitic remarks and says he ‘don’t think he meant what he said’.
- CEO Bjørn Gulden, 58, said “I don’t think he meant what he said” and praised the Yeezy rapper for being one of the “most creative people in the world”.
- Adidas ended its business relationship with West, which lasted nearly a decade. They had $1.3 billion worth of Yeezy merchandise left
Adidas’ chief executive defended Kanye West’s anti-Semitic comments after the company ended its nine-year relationship with the rapper last fall.
CEO Bjørn Gulden, 58, said: “I don’t think he meant what he said” and praised the Yeezy rapper for being one of the “most creative people in the world”.
West, 46, said he wanted to run a “death scam” against the Jewish people. As a result, Adidas ended its business relationship with him, which lasted almost a decade.
After the split, Adidas donated part of the $560 million it earned from giving away $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezy shoes to groups fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of hate.
Gulden made the comments in a conversation with Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Investment Bank, which owns $500 million worth of Adidas shares.
CEO Bjørn Gulden, 58, said “I don’t think he meant what he said” and praised the Yeezy rapper for being one of the “most creative people in the world”.
West, 46, said he wanted to run a “death scam” against the Jewish people. According to Forbes, West lost $1.5 billion of his estimated $2 billion fortune after Adidas cut ties with the singer, effectively removing him from the list of the world’s billionaires.
Gulden said on the In Good Company podcast: “I think Kanye West is one of the most creative people in the world. Both in music and in what I call street culture.
“He is extremely creative and created a Yeezy line with Adi that was very successful.
“And then, as a creative, he made statements that weren’t very good.
“And that caused Adi to break the contract and withdraw the product.
“Very unfortunate because I don’t think he meant what he said, and I don’t think he’s a bad person – it just happened that way.”
The CEO said Adidas had lost “one of the most successful collaborations in history.” He said the breakup was “very sad.” The company made about $2 billion a year from its Yeezy shoes.
He added: “When you work with third parties, this can happen. It’s part of the game. It can happen with an athlete, it can happen with an artist. It’s part of the business.
Last year, Ye was banned from Twitter and lost a series of lucrative sponsorship deals after making various anti-Semitic statements.
The CEO said Adidas had lost “one of the most successful collaborations in history.” He said the breakup was “very sad.” The company made about $2 billion a year from its Yeezy shoes.
He tweeted that he would “attack the deaths of JEWISH PEOPLE” while bringing back his “White Lives Matter” t-shirt
He wrote: “I’m a little sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going to die. 3 On the JEWISH PEOPLE.
“The funny thing is that I can’t be anti-Semitic because black people are also Jewish. You played games with me and tried to ostracize everyone who opposed your agenda.
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He drew widespread criticism, but then doubled down on his comments.
In an interview with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, West also launched into another anti-Semitic rant, claiming that an “underground Jewish media mafia” was ruining his career.
West complained that a “mafia” of Jewish media executives attacked his White Lives Matter stunt during Paris Fashion Week and still referred to him as a rapper rather than a billionaire.
West has faced plenty of controversy since he was photographed wearing a White Live Matter shirt at a Paris Fashion Week event last year.
Gulden, after the breakup with West, had been looking for a way to responsibly get rid of €1.2 billion worth of high-end shoes.
He said at the time: “We will continue to carefully sell more of the existing Yeezy inventory.
“It’s much better than destroying and erasing the inventory and allows us to make substantial donations to organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, and the Robert Foundation Kraft to combat anti-Semitism.”
According to Forbes, West lost $1.5 billion of his estimated $2 billion fortune after Adidas cut ties with the singer, effectively removing him from the list of the world’s billionaires.