The best minds can derail! Kanye West is the epitome of this. The rapper has had a tumultuous time since the October 2022 Paris Fashion Week. Ye introduced his new Yeezy shirts which had ‘White Lives Matter’ printed on them. He received a heavy backlash for the degenerating fashion statement. Later, he attacked the Jews warning to go “Defcon 3” on them. Both statements affected his entrepreneurial career.
After continued attacks on the Jewish people, the industry came together to oust the ‘Donda’ rapper completely. The sneaker giant, Adidas put a contract between them “under review”. But, slowly the industry consolidated to boycott him completely for his anti-Semitism. Balenciaga and Vogue cut ties with him. Lastly, when Adidas terminated the deal with Ye, West was no more a billionaire. After the chaos, now the former Adidas and Yeezy employees are coming forward to recount the horrific behavior he displayed.
Also Read: How Did Kanye West Dethrone Himself From Being A Billionaire?
Kanye West Played Porn Videos In The Meetings
In an interview with Apple’s Zane Lowe, West admitted to his addiction to porn since childhood. He said, “Some people drown themselves in drugs, and I drown myself in my addiction—sex”. But, there is always a hurdle when he tries to “kick the habit”. Kanye said, he has “to kick the habit, and it just presents itself in the open, like it’s OK. And I stand up and say, ‘You know, it’s not OK.’ “ This behavior would often make the employees at Adidas Yeezys uncomfortable.
One of the employees recounted that two seniors warned them about Ye’s eccentricities. The Adidas Vice President once told them, “Hey, just so you know, there’s gonna be this whole porn-reference thing”. An executive advised him that “It’s gonna catch you off guard the first time. I think he does it to catch people off guard.” When Rolling Stone conducted the interviews for reports, they were met with startling confessions.
Two employees made an explosive claim that Ye showed them pornographic content which included homemade sex tapes of him. He caught the Yeezy staff off-guard when he used to play porn videos during meetings. The senior said, “He would be in a meeting and he’d be talking to you, and he’d rattle off in his laptop” to play a porn video. He continued, “And he’s like, ‘I know it’s uncomfortable, but I kind of need this in the background to keep me focused.’ And you’d be like, ‘Uhhhhh, oh-kay.’ “
One of the top-tier employees recalled when they were sitting together with Kanye for a job interview. There was a female candidate, who was a footwear designer, who was showing her work and he interrupted her. He told the interviewee, “If you ever get stuck creatively, just watch porn for ten minutes”. The employee was trying to continue when he interrupted and said, “If you’re gonna be part of Yeezy, we say crazy shit here. You gotta stick with it. We keep moving, and we keep creating”.
Also Read: What Will Happen To Adidas Yeezys After The Company Severed Ties With Kanye West?
The Rapper Also Showed Private Pictures And Videos Of Kim Kardashian
Another interview incident. In 2018, Kanye West conducted a job interview with a young creative. The interviewee was having a gut-wrenching feeling when he entered the room where Ye was blasting his music and dancing. The person recalls that Kanye finally decided to focus on the meeting and got his phone out. He showed a picture of his now estranged wife Kim Kardashian. The person recalls that “It was revealing and personal”.
In another incident, he also showed an explicit video of the SKIMS founder during a creative meeting to the members of Yeezy. A former designer told the music news portal about an incident in 2019 when they had forgotten about a new model of Yeezys and the entrepreneur texted her. She recalls the text said, “We really need this shoe to be done because all I think about is Kim’s a** and this shoe”.
On November 22nd, 2022, many former high-ranking Yeezy officials wrote a letter to the now-CEO of Adidas calling out Ye’s behavior. The letter titled “The Truth about Yeezy: A Call to Action for Adidas Leadership” accused the shoe giant of “lacking responsibility, accountability, and protection that Adidas failed to provide their employees throughout what we experienced as years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks.”
The letter continued, “He has, in years past, exploded at women in the room with offensive remarks, and would resort to sexually disturbing references when providing design feedback. This type of response from a brand partner is one that Adidas employees should never be subjected to, nor should Adidas leadership ever tolerate.”
Also Read: “Hate Speech Is Never Okay”: Kim Kardashian Breaks Silence Amid Kanye West’s Anti-Semitic Comments
