Adidas announced they will continue to support Kanye West after his recent interview suggesting slavery was a choice which consequently rocked the web earlier this week.
CEO Kasper Rorsted said Thursday, May 3, that Adidas has no plans of dropping the Life of Pablo artist despite critics who’ve pointed out the German shoe and fashion company's hypocrisy in not signing beleaguered former San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick.
"Kanye has been, and is, a very important part of our strategy and has been a fantastic creator," Rorsted said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. "I'm not going to comment on every comment he or somebody else [is] making."
Earlier this week, Kanye faced backlash after unforgivable commentary suggesting slavery was a choice during an interview with TMZ.
"When you hear about slavery for 400 years," he said. “For 400 years? That sounds like a choice."
People responded to his claim with the #IfSlaveryWasAChoice hashtag and scores of people began schooling Ye about the history of slavery on Twitter. He then backpedaled tweeting that he was only talking about mental slavery and that his free thinking should not be criticized.
"Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will," he wrote. "My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved.
"The statement was an example of free thought. It was just an idea," he wrote in another now-deleted tweet.
Ye's profitable relationship with Adidas dates to 2013. He serves as a designer and celebrity ambassador for the company.
"Kanye and the Yeezy is a very important part of our brand, from a revenue standpoint less so, but it's a very important part of how we promote our products, particularly in the U.S. and other parts of the world," Rorsted said.
The Yeezy line has become one of the most recognizable brands for the company, but his outlandish statements should have put that relationship in jeopardy according to his critics.
A few weeks prior to Kanye's rants, Adidas made headlines announcing that they would sign Kaepernick to a deal when he is signed to a team. However, the NFL has essentially blackballed the former QB from the league because of his protests against racism and police brutality. Being signed to a team is nearly impossible.
"We love athletes that have a platform to make the world a better place," said Mark King (via The Arizona Republic), Adidas's North American president. "If they're an activist in a way that brings attention to something that moves the world forward, even if there's controversy at that moment, we're really interested in those athletes because I think it represents the world today."
Kanye is safe, and Kap is still suffering from fighting against injustice. No matter how many accolades Kap earns, he remains blackballed.
You can disrespect black people's history, but taking a stand for black people is frowned upon.