Adidas CEO and former Puma boss Björn Gulden has commented for the first time on breaking his partnership with Kanye West over his anti-Semitic remarks. The situation occurred in October 2022. He pointed out that the rapper is one of the most creative people in the world: both in music and in “street culture.” The Guardian reports this.
“He is extremely creative and created the Yeezy line with Adidas, which was very successful. And then, like a true creative, he made several statements that were not so good,” said the company director.
This, he said, forced Adidas to terminate the contract and recall the products: “I don’t think he meant what he said and I don’t think he’s a bad person, it just happened that way.”
Björn added that the collaboration with Yeezy was one of the most successful in the world: “But when you work with third parties, this can happen. It’s part of the game. It can happen to an athlete, it can happen to an artist. “It’s part of the business.”
In 2021, Yeezy generated $1.6 billion for adidas. This represented 7% of the company’s total annual revenue. Fashion was the main income for the rapper, who reportedly received 11% royalties. After cutting ties with West, the brand was left with a huge haul of Yeezy products: $1.2 billion.
Let us remind you that a short documentary about the creation of Kanye West’s Donda album, which was released in 2021, previously appeared on the BRND YouTube channel.
