‘I lost $2 billion in a day’: Kanye West after brands snap ties with American rapper
Kanye West said he lost $2 billion in a day after brands cut ties with the American Rapper over a series of anti-Semitic comments.
The development comes amid speculation that the musician dropped out of the billion-dollar club as several businesses and fashion associates rushed to cancel contracts following West’s anti-semitic tirade and after he promoted clothing with slogan “White Lives Matter”, which is used to mock the Black Lives Matter movement started in the aftermath of a series of brutal police killings targeting African Americans.
On Thursday, West also known as ‘Ye’ published an Instagram post addressed to Ari Emanuel, the CEO of Endeavour, an entertainment and media agency, who urged companies to stop doing business with the controversial figure in light of his racist behaviour.
“Ari Emanuel, I lost 2 billion dollars in one day and I’m still alive. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The people is who I am,” West wrote, after regaining access to his Instagram account, which was suspended by Facebook due to hate speech shared by the musician.
German sportswear giant Adidas on Tuesday announced that it was ending the business relationship with West after his “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous” comments.
The sportswear brand also said it will end the production the widely popular “Yeezy” line of designer wear and stop payments to West and his companies.
After Adidas’ announcement, the rapped showed up at the office of Skechers in Los Angeles “unannounced and without invitation” and was “escorted out of the building”. The company also said it “has no intention of working with West” and that he was engaged in “unauthorised filming”.
Balenciaga and Gap also said they would no longer work with West.
