12-01-2022
In a November Rolling Stone article, Adidas employees assert Kanye West showed them explicit pictures of his former wife to intimidate them. As was widely reported over the last few months, West made anti-Semitic comments on his Twitter feed. Adidas had a design contract with West estimated to be worth $1.5 billion. The company ended the contract following West's tweets and public reaction.
Adidas employees say West subjected them to inappropriate conduct. For example, one employee said West shared an explicit picture of Kim Kardashian, West's ex-wife, during a 2018 job interview. Another employee said West showed "personal" photos of Kardashian to the company's creative team. Several employees accuse West of also discussing personal matters with them. One of the employees stated that they felt West used it as a "tactic to break a person and establish their unwavering allegiance to him, testing and destroying people's boundaries." One employee told the magazine that West targeted female employees. Rolling Stone reported an open letter sent to Adidas. Called "The Truth about Yeezy: A Call to Action for Adidas Leadership," the letter purportedly criticized Adidas leadership for turning off their "moral compass." The letter accused West of creating a "toxic and chaotic environment" with "a very sick pattern of predacious behavior toward women." In addition, West allegedly "exploded at women in the room with offensive remarks and would resort to sexually disturbing reference providing design feedback." The letter states Adidas failed to protect employees from “years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks.”
Adidas has announced that it intends to investigate these misconduct allegations. The company said that, while it is not clear these allegations are true, they are taking them seriously. West did not provide any public comment in response to the allegations.