Adidas will soon begin selling the $1.3 billion worth of Kanye West’s Yeezy that is still in stock after the two parties severed their commercial relations as a result of the rapper’s antisemitic outburst last year.
The German athletic gear and footwear company would also give the Anti-Defamation League and other organizations ‘working to combat prejudice and hate, including racism and antisemitism’ a portion of its impending Yeezy product sales proceeds.
According to TMZ, the company anticipates beginning the sale of the remaining pairs of Yeezy sneakers as well as other stock items in the coming days. This will be the first opportunity for customers to purchase Yeezy products since October 25, when Adidas severed its partnership with the rapper and entrepreneur.
The incident that led to West’s professional fallout started when he and some of his models appeared at his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week show on October 3 wearing shirts with the phrase “White Lives Matter” emblazoned across their backs.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the phrase was used by white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The rapper later took to Twitter to use antisemitic rhetoric in his posts and in interviews.
One of the most infamous of his posts was when he appeared to threaten Jewish people in a tweet that came shortly after his Instagram account was restricted for content viewed by some users as antisemitic.
‘I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,’ he began in the controversial post on October 8, 2022.
‘The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,’ he wrote, in one of his first tweets in two years.