Topline
Kanye West reignited his feud with Adidas, his former partner in his Yeezy shoe brand, accusing the company of “design theft and oppression” and making “moves to hold me back,” in an Instagram rant posted months after the company’s chief executive said its legal issues with the rapper were settled.
Adidas severed ties with Kanye West in October 2022. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
West, a former Forbes billionaire whose net worth tanked after Adidas dropped him following a series of bizarre, antisemitic comments, posted a screenshot to his Instagram showing the Adidas website ranking above West’s own Yeezy merchandise website when a user searches the word “Yeezy” on Google.
West blamed Adidas for the Google results, demanding the company “stop doing this” and accusing it of trying to “intimidate and oppress me.”
The rapper appeared to reference his October 2022 falling-out with the company, claiming the company retaliated after he “stood up” for himself over the company’s alleged “design theft,” an accusation West has repeatedly made, though he did not elaborate in the post which designs he felt were stolen.
West also criticized Adidas designer Jerry Lorenzo, a former collaborator of the rapper, calling him “disloyal” for standing by the company after “the way they handled things,” accusing the designer’s 2023 Hollywood Bowl fashion show of being a copy of a show West had previously held at the venue.
-Forbes has reached out to Adidas for comment.
Key Background
West’s Adidas rant comes two months after Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden told reporters the company’s legal issues with the rapper had been settled and that all drama with West “belongs to the past.” “No one owes anything to anybody any more. Whatever was is history,” Gulden said. The CEO said Adidas had planned to sell the rest of its leftover Yeezy stock that remained after the company cut ties with West by the end of 2024. Adidas made $437 million from the first batch of its Yeezy shoes released after severing ties with West, some of which benefited organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and a non-profit founded by George Floyd’s brother. Searching “Yeezy” on the Adidas website no longer yields any results.
How Did West Lose His Billionaire Status?
West was once worth as much as $2 billion in 2022, according to Forbes’ estimates, largely because of his Yeezy partnership with Adidas. But West’s net worth came crashing down after he made a series of widely criticized antisemitic comments in October 2022, including a tweet that he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” and a bizarre claim that “Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels and those Jewish record labels take ownership.” He also wore a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt. CNN had reported, citing anonymous sources, West was obsessed with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and scrapped plans to name an album after him. In December 2023, West posted an apology to the Jewish community in Hebrew on Instagram. West is now worth $400 million, according to Forbes’ estimates, based on the value of his real estate portfolio, Music catalog and a small stake in his ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand.
Tangent
Though West’s behavior effectively wiped out his fashion empire, he has continued to find success with music releases. He released two albums in 2024, “Vultures 1” and “Vultures 2,” both of which are collaborative releases with rapper Ty Dolla $ign. “Vultures 1,” which was marred by a messy, frequently delayed rollout and a brief takedown on Apple Music, topped the Billboard 200 chart and produced the Hot 100 No. 1 single, “Carnival.” In recent weeks, West has teased an upcoming solo album, “Bully,” though no release date is known. He posted a pre-order link for the album on Instagram in October. He held a listening party for the album in China in September, where he debuted a new song, “Beauty and the Beast.”
Further Reading
Kanye West Announces New Album ‘Bully,’ Debuts Song ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at Listening Event in China (Variety)
Kanye West’s ‘Vultures 2’ Rollout Delayed—And He Might Not Even Stream It (Forbes)
