Recent revelations in the controversy regarding sports shoe and apparel maker Adidas's (ADDYY) relationship with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, continue. Now a new discovery about Ye's Wyoming ranch has come to light.
The German company had said it was cutting ties with Ye on Oct. 25, following a number of instances he was heard and recorded making antisemitic remarks.
"Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness," the company said at the time.
Then Adidas immediately closed its partnership with Ye, ceasing production of Yeezy products and ending its financial obligations to Ye and his companies.
Adidas had been criticized for taking too long to take action regarding Ye, but eventually joined Gap, JPMorgan and Balenciaga in cutting ties with him over his contentious comments.
"You have to really give me the position to be Ye and let me do what I’m thinking, or I have to do the thinking somewhere else," Ye had said in a video of him talking to Gap executives that he posted to his 17 million Instagram followers in September. That video was later removed from Instagram.
PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP via Getty Images/TS
Adidas Followed Ye (Briefly) to Wyoming
In 2018, Ye and his wife, Kim Kardashian, along with their children, moved to a ranch in Cody, Wyoming.
After the move, Adidas reportedly was forced to make major changes, although short-lived, in staffing and facilities because of its collaboration with Ye.
"Some of the 90 or so Yeezy-assigned workers relocated to Wyoming to work at a facility that Ye had demanded, which required transporting millions of dollars in machinery," Bloomberg reported.
On Dec. 16, 2019, local newspaper The Cody Enterprise reported that city planning and zoning members were reviewing a site plan for what it called an "Adidas Yeezy Cody Sample Lab."
"Plans are to convert the warehouse to a sample-prototype lab for Adidas-Yeezy production, according to a P&Z report by Todd Stowell, city planner," the newspaper said
An Adidas employee, who talked to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, said the facility opened and closed within six months.
After a number of controversies since then, in October 2022 Adidas said it was reviewing its partnership with Ye. Here is a tweet capturing part of the company's statement at the time, posted by @kanyestreams1.
Other Recent Troubles for Adidas
A significant point of contention was the manner in which Ye had criticized the company on numerous occasions.
Ye had chided Chief Executive Kasper Rorsted on social media. In September, he raised more than a few eyebrows when he posted a fake mockup of a New York Times front page falsely announcing that Rorsted had died.
More difficulties besides those involving Ye concerned the company as well.
In mid-October Adidas said its inventory was not selling as quickly as anticipated because of lower-than-expected demand in China and western markets.
The company cut its expectations for full-year revenue to grow in the mid-single-digits. This was off its previous hopes for mid- to high-single-digit growth.
Adidas had also adjusted its profit expectation down for the year by €500 million ($488 million).
