Adidas CEO Says Brand Won't Drop Kanye West Over Slavery Comments

Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted says the brand won't drop Kanye West over his controversial slavery comments.

The Kanye Effect   Ep 1
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The Kanye Effect   Ep 1

Kanye West's reckless descent continued this week with a TMZ Live appearance that was controversial to say the least. Among other foolish statements, the most troubling part of West's diatribe was his comment about slavery being a choice. The remarks have been met with an uproar from Kanye fans and detractors alike, but Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted says the brand isn't going to take action yet.

In an interview with Bloomberg following Adidas' Q1 report, Rorsted attempted to skirt around the Kanye questions, offering vague replies and calling West a "fantastic creator." 

"We neither comment nor speculate on every single comment that our external creators are making," Rorsted said. "Kanye has been and is a very important part of our strategy and has been a fantastic creator. And that’s why I’m going to leave it, I’m not going to comment on every comment that he or someone else is making."

When pressed on the issue, Rorsted elaborated by talking up Adidas' recent growth and seemed to downplay West's overall impact. "Last year, we did almost $25 billion, we’re a very large company," Rorsted said. "Kanye and the Yeezy is a very important part for our brand, from a revenue standpoint less though, but it’s a very important part of how we promote our products particularly in the U.S. and other parts of the world. At the same time, the brand Adidas grew last quarter in the U.S. 23 percent…So while Kanye is a very important part of the Adidas brand, Adidas is a large global company with a very, very strong presence around the world and will continue to perform well."

Despite denying any talks regarding dropping West, Rorsted did tell Bloomberg that "There clearly are some comments we don’t support."