Adidas Plans to Resell Remaining Kanye West Sneakers, Donate Proceeds to Charity, After Cutting Ties With Rapper

An Adidas sign at the entrance to the store in Miami, Fla., on Aug. 12, 2021. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Adidas plans to resell parts of its remaining now-defunct shoe line with Kanye West following comments he made last year that were widely viewed as antisemitic, the company has announced.

Björn Gulden, CEO of the German sports brand, revealed the decision during the company’s annual shareholder meeting on May 11.

“What we are trying to do now over time is to sell parts of this inventory and donate money to the organizations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanye’s statements,” Gulden told investors during the meeting, Fortune reports. “Burning several million pairs [of shoes] does not make sense,” Gulden added.

Gulden did not state which organizations the money would go to, nor did he say how much of the proceeds of the sales will go to the charities. He also did not provide a specific timeline as to when the company will begin re-selling parts of West’s inventory.

“When we will do that and how we will do that is not clear yet, but we are working on those things,” Gulden said.

According to Complex, West will still be entitled to 15 percent of all Adidas sales based on their previous contract.

The Epoch Times has contacted Adidas for further comment.

West, whose legal name is Ye, was dropped by Adidas in October 2022 after the rapper and fashion designer made a series of comments on social media that were widely seen as offensive and antisemitic.

Criticism Over West’s Comments

In one post on Twitter, for example, West, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016, wrote, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” referencing the U.S. Armed Forces’ heightened readiness status DEFCON 3.

“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 blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” he wrote.

In another post on Twitter, West shared screenshots of an alleged text message exchange between himself and fellow rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs who criticized him for wearing a “White Lives Matter T-shirt“ alongside conservative commentator and author Candace Owens during his Yeezy Season 9 collection presentation in Paris, France.

“Ima [sic] use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me. I told you this was war. Now gone get you some business,” West wrote to Combs at the time.

Twitter later blocked his account.

Adidas Loses Billions

However, his comments sparked heavy backlash on social media, including from the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which said in a statement at the time that West should “figure out how to make a point without using antisemitism.”

“Over the last week, the musician has fomented hatred of Jews. The greed theme has led to a long list of Jewish stereotypes, such as being money-oriented or controlling the world’s finances. The control theme seeks to falsely portray Jews as secret puppet masters ruling over others. Ye needs to learn that words matter,” the AJC said.

Amid growing pressure, Adidas announced in a statement that it had severed ties with West, noting that the company “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. ”

“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.

“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy-branded products, and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect,” it added.

The company said in February that it expects the termination of its business arrangement with West to wipe out $1.3 billion in revenue this year.