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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ben Beaumont-Thomas

Adidas chief exec: Kanye West ‘didn’t mean what he said’ with antisemitic comments

Kanye West and Bjørn Gulden.
Lucrative links … Kanye West (Ye) and Bjørn Gulden. Composite: Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Daniel Karmann/AP

Bjørn Gulden, chief executive of Adidas, has lamented the end of the company’s lucrative partnership with Kanye West, saying, “I don’t think he meant what he said,” regarding the rapper’s antisemitic comments in October 2022.

West, who has changed his name to Ye, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE … You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda”. On Instagram, he posted a screenshot of a conversation with Diddy, where he wrote: “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.” Ye had caused further anger earlier that month by including T-shirts with the slogan White Lives Matter in a Yeezy fashion show in Paris.

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