Subscribe
Cassius Life Featured Video
CLOSE
Celebrity Sightings In Los Angeles - October 21, 2022

Source: Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin / Getty

Kanye West, more popularly known as Ye, is no longer a billionaire. According to Forbes, the 45-year-old entertainer saw his net worth plummet overnight by approximately 80 percent after Adidas canceled its reported $1.5 billion deal with him. The German athletic brand says it was forced to take this action in light of Ye’s anti-Semitic remarks over the past few weeks.

“Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” the Adidas press release stated. “After a thorough review, the company has decided to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products, and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. adidas will stop the adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”

Without a major company backing him, Ye set off to find a new partner, and on that journey, he got turned down when he showed up unannounced at one of Skechers’ Los Angeles office buildings.

The company said he never received an invitation to meet and that he was engaged in “unauthorized filming” upon being asked to exit the premises.

“Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West,” the company said in its Wednesday statement. “We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech.”

This is all a result of Ye’s controversial appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, where he was sure this course of action between him and Three Stripes was impossible. “The thing about it, me and Adidas, is like, I could literally say anti-Semitic sh-t, and they can’t drop sh-t,” he asserted. “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?!”

adidas joins Gap Inc., Balenciaga, Foot Locker, and Creative Artists Agency on the list of companies severing ties with Ye. And that tally is expected to grow as public pressure mounts for other entities to quit working with him, too.

Last month, Ye announced he was pulling the plug on his 10-year, multibillion-dollar deal with Gap Inc. because he wanted more creative control as well as a greater authority on the retail side of the business. “Everyone knows that I’m the leader. I’m the king,” Ye said on CNBC’s Closing Bell. “A king can’t live in someone else’s castle. A king has to make his own castle.”