Adidas Kick Starts Their Attempts to Deal With Kanye West vs Their Employees Issues, Reveals Report
Kanye West has recently been accused of exploiting employees working under him in the Yeezy department. Some of the former staffers came forward to give testimony against the music and fashion mogul. To boot, they also mentioned the sneaker giant had previously disregarded his provocative behavior all these years.
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All the allegations in the open letter left people horrified by the way employees were frequently abused and berated. Since the letter exposed the hip-hop star who used to show obscene photos and videos to employees. Now Adidas has finally begun their attempts to deal with Kanye West vs their Employees issues, reveals the report.
Adidas has been fearing the risk of employees interacting with Kanye West for years
In a recent report rolled out by The Wall Street Journal, it is revealed that Adidas has always feared its partnership with Kanye West. The chief executive and senior leaders in Germany discussed the risks of letting the rapper interact with employees. Four years ago, the board members sat down to talk about the termination of the partnership. Although they did not cut ties with the musician at that time because Yeezy held about 8% of total annual sales.
On the other hand, when things got really out of hand following the rapper’s anti-Semitic comments, they instantly called off the collaboration. But when the former employees revolted against Ye last week, it was clear that there was something more to the story. Much to public surprise, it turned out that West has not only made anti-Semitic comments or mocked the Black Life Matters movement but also abused people who worked for him.
For instance, one ex-employee stated that the workplace was toxic and she had to take therapy after resigning from Yeezy. Moreover, the Praise God singer has also made discriminatory remarks all these years and suggested naming an album after Hitler to Adidas staff.
Adidas has shown support and ran an independent investigation into what employees call “offensive behavior.” Meanwhile, the ex-billionaire has maintained his silence over the claims made by the former staffers.
Adidas has tried to resolve the workspace issued with employees internally
We all know that Yeezy has been thriving from the very year it started, as buyers loved the unique designs created by Ye. According to the recent revelation, Adidas offered the fashion designer ownership of his future designs and the permission to sell products directly to customers. However, the rapper wasn’t satisfied with it and demanded $3 billion. Not just that, Kanye West also wanted to be named creative director of Adidas, as per the reports.
But Adidas already identified the risks of letting employees directly connect with Ye. In 2018, they proposed to make Yeezy a standalone brand like Nike’s Jordan brand so he might remain away from the company. Meanwhile, they also tried to convince the Atlanta born artist to sell his Yeezy Trademark to the company.
After much discussions and proposals, the executive board opted to continue their collaboration. Then they started paying him $100 million annual marketing payment for promoting the brand by using his global platform. However, when things started falling out, they asked the rapper to give up the annual marketing payment and offered royalties. Still, West did not agree and wanted $1 billion worth of Adidas stock once sales of existing products hit $5 billion. Additionally, he demanded $2 billion in stock if sales increase.
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The document has revealed many instances where Adidas tried to handle things with peace. But when Ye publicly accused the brand of robbing his designs and later invoking the public with his comments, they ended the partnership. Therefore, the Donda singer didn’t get the payout what he desired and also lost his billionaire tag in an instant.
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What do you think? Will this tide of controversy take down the fashion designer? Tell us your views in the comment section and stay tuned for future updates.
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