Gap, Foot Locker also turn their backs on Kanye West
New York, Oct 25 (EFE).- Casual clothing company Gap and sports shoe retailer Foot Locker turned their backs on music artist Kanye West, whose business and popularity have suffered a debacle as a result of recent declarations of antisemitic and racist character.
Gap, which ended its collaboration with the rapper’s Yeezy brand in August, said it was removing “YeezyGap products” from its stores and shutting down the line’s website in retaliation against its former partner, calling “anti-Semitism, racism and hatred in any form” something “inexcusable.”
Foot Locker also announced Tuesday the withdrawal of Yeezy shoes from its shelves and its website, adding it would not sell the brand’s new products, saying “it does not tolerate any form of anti-Semitism or hateful and discriminatory behavior.”
These measures follow sports brand Adidas’ breakup with West, who marketed the listed Yeezy products through the company, something which cost the music artist $1.5 billion.
According to a statement released Tuesday, Adidas “does not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech” and the artist’s “recent statements and actions are unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.”
Other companies that have decided to distance themselves from West include luxury clothing company Balenciaga, Vogue magazine, the CAA representation agency, The RealReal trading platform and the MRC production studio.
West wrote a series of anti-Semitic messages on Twitter and Instagram in early October, and previously attended a parade in Paris wearing the slogan “White Lives Matter,” often used by white supremacists in response to the movement against racism “Black Lives Matter.”
Pressure on associates of the rapper – who officially changed his name to Ye – to reprimand him for his behavior grew this week, when a hate group unfurled a banner on a Los Angeles freeway reading “Kanye is right about the Jews.”
He also faces a defamation lawsuit from the family of George Floyd, the African American murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020. They’re claiming $ 250 million in damages after West said in a podcast that the cause of Floyd’s death was the use of the opioid fentanyl and not police violence. EFE
nqs/lds
