Kanye West and adidas have settled their years-long legal battle, which dated back to the company cutting ties with the rapper and producer back in 2022 over his antisemitic comments.
On Tuesday (October 29), Reuters reported the company announced that the parties had reached an out-of-court settlement that concluded all of the cases between them.
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“Both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims,” company CEO Bjørn Gulden said on a conference call, per Complex. “The agreement didn’t include any payments. No one owes anybody anything anymore. So whatever was is history.
“There were tensions on many issues, and… when you put the claims on the right side and you put the claims on the left side, both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims,” Gulden continued.
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The settlement occurred two years almost to the day from when West was dropped by adidas.
On October 25, 2022, the German sportswear giant announced its decision to terminate its lucrative partnership with Kanye with immediate effect, citing his antisemitic remarks.
“adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the statement read. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. adidas will stop the adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”
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It continued: “adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership. More information will be given as part of the company’s upcoming Q3 earnings announcement on November 9, 2022.”
adidas had been under increasing pressure from various legal organizations, anti-racism groups and even its own employees to cut ties with the rapper, who had made a series of anti-Semitic remarks on social media and in interviews, in addition to wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at Paris Fashion Week earlier that month.
