Kanye West has fired famed sneaker designer Steven Smith from YZY, marking one of the company’s biggest departures.
Smith has been associated with Ye since 2016 and was one of the key figures behind the success of the rapper’s lucrative collaboration with Adidas, which was terminated in late 2022 over the Chicago native’s antisemitic comments.
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Speaking with Fast Company, who described Smith as “a sensitive defender of Ye and, in particular, the treatment of his mental health” before his exit, the designer changed his tune and spoke candidly about the decline of both the rapper’s mental state and his YZY company.
“He’s lost his mind,” Smith said. “The whole of Yeezy is circling the drain and this is just part of it. He has surrounded himself with toxic, C-grade losers.”
West fired Smith in early August and also blocked him on Instagram, but the veteran sneaker designer is already looking to the future, commenting: “I’m in a very happy place with it all. I will certainly be a priceless asset to whoever I work with next. It’s all his loss and the result of his foolishness.”
Smith did not elaborate on the exact reason for his departure, although Fast Company reported that he “reached a breaking point” after Kanye’s since-scrapped plans to launch his own porn company.
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YZY has faced intense scrutiny of late after it was claimed by another former senior employee that Kanye West is addicted to nitrous oxide.
The allegations were made by his former chief of staff and far-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos, who claimed in an affidavit that celebrity dentist Thomas Connelly was responsible for getting the rapper hooked on the poinonous gas.
Kanye was accused of spending upwards of $50,000 per month on nitrous oxide, with Yiannopoulos also claiming that the G.O.O.D. Music founder underwent scans that proved he had suffered permanent brain damage caused by the substance.
Ye has not addressed claims of his nitrous oxide use but was seen inhaling from an oxygen mask in a video he sent to controversial boxer Ryan Garcia.
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Connelly, for his part, has vehemently denied the allegations and accused Yiannopoulos of trying to damage his reputation over a personal grievance.
