Adidas placed its lucrative partnership with rapper Kanye West “under review” amid recent controversial decisions by the rapper, Adidas said Thursday, putting West’s billionaire status in jeopardy.
West wrote in an Instagram post including a screenshot of CNBC’s article on the paused partnership: “FUUUUUUCK ADIDAS I AM ADIDAS ADIDAS RAPED AND STOLE MY DESIGNS.”
West, who changed his legal name to Ye last year, made headlines earlier this week for wearing a ““WHITE LIVES MATTER” shirt at his fashion show in Paris and for baselessly accusing the world’s second-wealthiest man, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, of causing the death of West’s “best friend,” an apparent reference to Louis Vuitton menswear director Virgil Abloh, who died of cancer last November.
West shared in 2018 his bipolar disorder diagnosis. After West was under hot water for controversial statements he made during his failed 2020 presidential bid, his then-wife Kim Kardashian said West’s “words sometimes do not align with his intentions” and he “has to deal with the pressure and isolation that is heightened by his bi-polar disorder.”
This article was first published on forbes.com
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