Investors sue Adidas over Kanye West failed partnership, say ‘it was aware of Ye’s behaviour’

Last year, in October, Adidas ended its partnership with the rapperYe, also known as Kanye West. However, now the sportswear giant has been sued by investors who are alleging that the company was aware of the risk of its partnership with the controversial singer years before they ended their ties with the Donda singer.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Oregon, the investors stated that despite being aware of the singer's problematic behaviour, the senior officers didn't take any precautionary measures to control the financial losses that the company and shareholders may face after the end of their million-dollar contract.

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Reacting to the claims, Adidassaid in a statement: ''We outright reject these unfounded claims and will take all necessary measures to vigorously defend ourselves against them.”

In the lawsuit, investors claim that Adidas and its top bosses were aware of Kanye's questionable behaviour. They also claim that it was even discussed between the former chief executive Kasper Rorsted and other senior members of the company.

In 2018, Ye said in an interview that slavery "sounds like a choice". His problematic comments were discussedin a meeting, and chief executive Rorsted said back then, as per The Guardian,"There clearly are some comments we don’t support. Kanye has been and is a very important part of our strategy and has been a fantastic creator.''

Investors also said in the lawsuit that Adidas “ignored the risks of oversupply of Yeezy branded shoes in the event that the partnership were to suddenly end, and in particular, if demand for the shoes were to fall due to any controversy surrounding West.”

After Adidas ended all its ties with Kanye last October due to his anti-Semitic comments, the Wall Street Journal published details of a 2018 meeting, which hasbeen mentioned in the lawsuit,

During the 2018 meeting, the employees raised their concerns about Kanye's behaviour with senior executives, who reportedly advised the staff to avoid interaction with him.

Last year, many Adidas employees came forward with a bizarre revelation about the things that Kanye used to do with his former Adidas employees in order to control, manipulate, and bully them. Over two dozen Adidas employees and creative collaborators have claimed earlier that Westused to show them extremely private photos and videos of his then-wife Kim Kardashian, including sex tapes, during meetings.

Terminating its partnership with Kanye West due to his anti-semitic comments, sportswear giant Adidas said in a statement that it "does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech" and said that his recent comments were "unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous."

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Adidas said West's views violated the company’s "values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect, and fairness."

West partnered with Adidas in 2013 when he ended his relationship with rival brand Nike. In 2016, the brand expanded its relationship with the rapper and signedone of itsmost expensive partnerships with a non-athlete. The rapper designed a hugely successful line Yeezy.

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