While Adidas employees have come forward with allegations of exceedingly bad behavior from Kanye West in the past, a lengthy new report from The New York Times delves deeper into the decade-long collaboration than before. What it found is stomach-churning.

A bombshell new report from the New York Times also discusses how the rapper (now known as Ye) would throw shoes and make staffers watch porn during meetings

Last October, Adidas finally dropped their long-term partner Kanye West after the rapper made a slew of antisemitic comments (among other things). This was despite the fact that Yeezy, their sneaker partnership, was netting the company over $1 billion annually. For many staffers, it was too little, too late. While Adidas employees have come forward with allegations of exceedingly bad behavior from the rapper (now known as Ye) in the past, a lengthy new report from The New York Times delves deeper into the decade-long collaboration than any have before. What it found is stomach-churning.

Apparently, employees were confronted with West’s rampant antisemitism as soon as their very first pitch meeting with the rapper. After reviewing a number of unsatisfactory fabric swatches and shoe designs, West allegedly grabbed one of the sketches and drew a swastika on the toe to convey his dislike of the sneaker. It only got worse from there.

As Ye ramped up his antisemitism in public last fall, he also doubled down behind the scenes. Employees reported that West repeatedly commended Hitler for his use of propaganda, calling the genocidal dictator a “marketing master” and saying he planned to name his next album after him. (It was eventually titled Ye.) Most egregiously, West apparently told TMZ that “it was important to love everyone, including Nazis” in the same interview in which he infamously said that slavery “sounds like a choice.” Back in the office, West stood by that statement, telling Jon Wexler, a Jewish Adidas executive, to “hang a photo of Hitler in his kitchen and kiss it every day to practice unconditional love.”

read more: https://www.avclub.com/kanye-west-adidas-yeezy-new-york-time-report-1850968306

archive link: https://archive.ph/RWHHH

    • flicker@kbin.social
      422·
      1 year ago

      Reminds me of when Ambien said the same thing.

      And the above poster who says they need treatment should read this. We are out here. We are mentally ill. Our mental illness, even at its most untreated, doesn’t make us fucking nazis so trying to be “kind” to nazis who happen to be mentally ill makes you an apologist.

      Dude does need treatment. He also deserves a punch for the nazi bullshit. The one doesn’t absolve the other.

      • moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        154·
        1 year ago

        I don’t care if they’re a sick child or hitler, everyone deserves treatment, no matter who they are or what they have done.

        Geneva Convention 1, article 6

        Wounded or sick soldiers shall be entertained and taken care of, to whatever nation they may belong.

        Commanders-in-chief shall have the power to deliver immediately to the outposts of the enemy soldiers who have been wounded in an engagement, when circumstances permit this to be done, and with the consent of both parties.

        Those who are recognized, after their wounds are healed, as incapable of serving, shall be sent back to their country.

        The others may also be sent back, on condition of not again bearing arms during the continuance of the war.

        Evacuations, together with the persons under whose directions they take place, shall be protected by an absolute neutrality.

        The Hippocratic Oath, Paragraphs 4-7

        I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.

        I will not be ashamed to say “I know not”, nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.

        I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

        I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

        Note: I am not against locking them up in prisons, but while they are in prison they still have a right to treatment.

        • flicker@kbin.social
          153·
          1 year ago

          I will reiterate that I agreed upon treatment as a necessity. I also believe he deserves a punch. Not a single illness out there makes you a nazi. Not one.

          • livus@kbin.social
            102·
            1 year ago

            @flicker I know it’s probably comforting to think to yourself that your entire personality and belief systems are baked into your core and could never be affected by any kind of illness.

            Unfortunately it’s not quite true, there are serious mental illnesses that could make you think you are a nazi or that you want to kill someone or whatever. This is one of the heartbreaking things about mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

            If you’ve never seen it you wouldn’t know what it’s like of course, but it’s like a great big chunk of the person you used to know and love has been replaced by a stranger in their body. When they start saying abberent shit it can be hard for people to remember it’s the illness talking. To remember they are still “in there” somewhere.

            • flicker@kbin.social
              43·
              1 year ago

              I’m not going to get into my history here but I’ve spent years in and out of institutions. If you want to make the argument that this is schizoaffective disorder I won’t stop you, but I assure you that even if that is the case, we are still completely responsible for what we say, and I would argue even moreso because there is zero excuse for him not to be seeking care and treatment.

              When grandma has dementia, and spits and bites, she is still responsible for the consequences of her actions. We will treat her with kindness and compassion and health care, but she isn’t absolved of her part in hurting someone. That is the notion I rebel against. You are still responsible for your racism. You are not given a consequence free card because of your illness. Advocating for a consequence free environment is why people can claim Kanye should be forgiven and should not be treated as an intelligent, thinking, feeling human being. I will not allow someone to say he should be. That is dehumanizing and ultimately the opposite of kindness.

              • Mirshe@lemmy.worldEnglish
                3·
                1 year ago

                To quote my favorite podcaster, “mental illness is not your FAULT, but it is your RESPONSIBILITY.”

                • flicker@kbin.social
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  Precisely! I feel like taking away our responsibility also takes away our agency. I hate when people have their agency restricted.

                  There’s a reason AA and NA and other peer recovery services make people take responsibility for what they’ve done, even if it was illness that “made” them do those things. Because having responsibility for what you’ve done is ultimately what frees you to have responsibility for the good that you can do. I love that for us, for all of humanity.

              • livus@kbin.social
                3·
                1 year ago

                @flicker I think we may be talking at cross purposes here.

                I am simply advocating for non violent mental health treatment for all who need it.

                I don’t follow Kanye West closely so I don’t know what his issue is or whether his expressed views are products of his own mind or malfunctions. My comments are not about him, they are about the absurd generalizations about mental health I am seeing in here.

                I have had loved ones with Schizophrenia and no, they absolutely should not be “held accountable” let alone physically assaulted for the content of their delusions. That’s just not how it works.

                Sweeping generalisations about all mental illness are not helpful, particularly when we have a long and fairly recent history in our societies of violent abuse of such people.

                I’m not going to argue about this any more. Thank you for the discussion.

    • Maeve@kbin.social
      114·
      1 year ago

      And your illness and demeanor, as well as your upbringing are exactly like everyone else’s. Please.

          • ickplant@lemmy.worldEnglish
            41·
            1 year ago

            I’m honestly not sure what you mean by that. We know he is bipolar. We know people sometimes tend to use that as an excuse for his words and actions. And people with bipolar like myself tend to dislike that because our disorder does not turn us into neo-Nazis.