View gallery
“Had to cut ties, bro,” Kanye “Ye” West posted to Instagram on Oct. 27 while sharing a screenshot from a parody news account. “Ye Has Reportedly Cut Ties With Kanye West,” read the headline, along with “Yeezy claims they have also ended business relations with Kanye.” West, 45, apparently wasn’t upset that his business empire was crumbling following his repeated antisemitic comments. Days before Ye “cut ties” with himself, Forbes reported that Ye lost his billionaire status after Adidas announced that it would no longer work with Ye and his Yeezy sneakers and that they were pulling his products from the shelves.
Ye seemed unbothered by this move and all the others refusing to work with him. “Ari Emmanuel,” wrote Ye in a second Instagram post, addressing the top entertainment industry talent agent who called on businesses to stop working with Ye, per CBS News. “I lost [two] billion dollars in one day / and I’m still alive / This is love speech / I still love you / God still loves you / The money is not who I am / The people is who I am.”
Foot Locker announced on Oct. 25 that it would “not be supporting any future Yeezy product drops, and we have instructed our retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites,” according to Forbes. Though Gap announced in September that they were parting with Ye after he accused them of breaking their contract, the store announced it was “taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap products from our stores, and we have shut down yeezygap.com” following his antisemitic rants. JP Morgan reportedly decided to no longer bank with Ye. MRC announced it shelved a completed documentary about Ye, and talent agency CAA dropped Ye.
Balenciaga also announced it “has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.” Record label Def Jam, a part of Universal Music Group, also confirmed that it was no longer working with West. “Def Jam’s relationship with Ye as a recording artist, Def Jam’s partnership with the GOOD Music label venture, and Ye’s merchandise agreement with Bravado all ended in 2021,” UMG said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “There is no place for antisemitism in our society. We are deeply committed to combating antisemitism and every other form of prejudice.”
Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek told Reuters that Ye’s music did not violate any anti-hate policies, which is why it remains on the streaming platform. “It’s really just his music, and his music doesn’t violate our policy,” said Ek, adding, “It’s up to his label, if they want to take action or not.” Ek condemned Ye’s “just awful comments” but said that the music will remain until his label does something. However, Peloton “indefinitely paused” playing Kanye West’s music during its streaming workout classes, per CNN.
On Wednesday (Oct. 26), Ye was reportedly escorted out of Skechers headquarters in Los Angeles. Ye “arrived unannounced and without invitation,” the company said, per CNN. He reportedly engaged in “unauthorized filming” and was escorted out “after a brief conversation.”
“Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West,” the company said in its statement. “We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech.”
