The rapper formerly known as Kanye West was escorted out of the California-based headquarters of shoemaker Skechers after he showed up unannounced on Wednesday, a day after Adidas ended its partnership with the artist following his antisemitic remarks.
The 45-year-old who legally changed his name to Ye, “arrived unannounced and without invitation” at Skechers corporate HQ in Manhattan Beach, the company said.
A company statement said “Considering Ye was engaged in unauthorized filming, two Skechers executives escorted him and his party from the building after a brief conversation.”
The popular footwear brand made its feelings quite clear as to where they stand with regard to taking on West as an associate or ambassador.
“Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West, We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech.”
For weeks, Ye has made antisemitic comments in interviews and social media, including a Twitter post earlier this month that he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” an apparent reference to the U.S. defense readiness condition scale known as DEFCON. His posts led to his suspension from both Twitter and Instagram.
He apologised on Monday. On Tuesday, Adidas announced it was ending a partnership with Ye that helped make him a billionaire, saying it doesn’t tolerate antisemitism and hate speech.
The German sportswear giant said it expected that the decision to immediately stop production of its Yeezy products would cause a hit to its net income of up to €250m.
The company had stuck with Ye through other controversies after he suggested slavery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast.”
Other companies also have announced they were cutting ties with Ye, including Foot Locker, Gap, TJ Maxx, JPMorgan Chase bank and Vogue magazine.
