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Kanye West told a Jewish Adidas manager to kiss a photo of Hitler "every day" (www.avclub.com)

submitted 1 year ago by tree@lemmy.zip to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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A bombshell new report from the New York Times also discusses how the rapper (now known as Ye) would throw shoes and make staffers watch porn during meetings

Last October, Adidas finally dropped their long-term partner Kanye West after the rapper made a slew of antisemitic comments (among other things). This was despite the fact that Yeezy, their sneaker partnership, was netting the company over $1 billion annually. For many staffers, it was too little, too late. While Adidas employees have come forward with allegations of exceedingly bad behavior from the rapper (now known as Ye) in the past, a lengthy new report from The New York Times delves deeper into the decade-long collaboration than any have before. What it found is stomach-churning.

Apparently, employees were confronted with West’s rampant antisemitism as soon as their very first pitch meeting with the rapper. After reviewing a number of unsatisfactory fabric swatches and shoe designs, West allegedly grabbed one of the sketches and drew a swastika on the toe to convey his dislike of the sneaker. It only got worse from there.

As Ye ramped up his antisemitism in public last fall, he also doubled down behind the scenes. Employees reported that West repeatedly commended Hitler for his use of propaganda, calling the genocidal dictator a “marketing master” and saying he planned to name his next album after him. (It was eventually titled Ye.) Most egregiously, West apparently told TMZ that “it was important to love everyone, including Nazis” in the same interview in which he infamously said that slavery “sounds like a choice.” Back in the office, West stood by that statement, telling Jon Wexler, a Jewish Adidas executive, to “hang a photo of Hitler in his kitchen and kiss it every day to practice unconditional love.”

archive link: https://archive.ph/RWHHH

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[–] Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remember, these businesses only dropped him once it wasn't profitable to keep him around. Has nothing to do with his actual speech.

[–] wrath_of_grunge@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

that's kind of the funny thing about this story. do you know how much of a colossal dickbag you gotta be for a company to say no to making a billion dollars? they will put up with so much shit for that kind of money. but West was a dickbag of such monumental proportions that the company is like, 'nah, fuck it, it's not worth it', to a billion fucking dollars.

on top of that we see later in the article

Still, throughout all of this, the company’s C-suite consistently “sought not to rein him in but to appease him,” with an eye to their bottom line. After the slavery comment, for example, Kasper Rorsted, Adidas’ CEO at the time, brushed it off, saying “Kanye has helped us have a great comeback in the U.S.” He only doubled down months later, adding: “We’re not signing up to his statements; we’re signing up to what he brings to the brand and the products he’s bringing out.”

and we learn once again, ironically, that appeasement doesn't work.

[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

(now known as Ye)

When I was younger, if a kid tried to give themselves a cool nickname, everyone would do their absolute best to call them anything but that and make up the worst possible names to call them instead.

We should bring that back. I even went to school with a guy called Dungboy

[–] Gigan@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What the actual fuck is wrong with him?

[–] CeruleanRuin@lemmings.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Untreated mental illness supplemented by fame-induced yes-men syndrome.

What he needs is a good slap and a kick to the groin.

[–] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I always hear this excuse. I'm bipolar and went without medication for a very long time. Never turned me into a fucking Nazi.

He is just a horrible person who also happens to be bipolar.

[–] flicker@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reminds me of when Ambien said the same thing.

And the above poster who says they need treatment should read this. We are out here. We are mentally ill. Our mental illness, even at its most untreated, doesn't make us fucking nazis so trying to be "kind" to nazis who happen to be mentally ill makes you an apologist.

Dude does need treatment. He also deserves a punch for the nazi bullshit. The one doesn't absolve the other.

[–] moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't care if they're a sick child or hitler, everyone deserves treatment, no matter who they are or what they have done.

Geneva Convention 1, article 6

Wounded or sick soldiers shall be entertained and taken care of, to whatever nation they may belong.

Commanders-in-chief shall have the power to deliver immediately to the outposts of the enemy soldiers who have been wounded in an engagement, when circumstances permit this to be done, and with the consent of both parties.

Those who are recognized, after their wounds are healed, as incapable of serving, shall be sent back to their country.

The others may also be sent back, on condition of not again bearing arms during the continuance of the war.

Evacuations, together with the persons under whose directions they take place, shall be protected by an absolute neutrality.

The Hippocratic Oath, Paragraphs 4-7

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

Note: I am not against locking them up in prisons, but while they are in prison they still have a right to treatment.

[–] flicker@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I will reiterate that I agreed upon treatment as a necessity. I also believe he deserves a punch. Not a single illness out there makes you a nazi. Not one.

[–] livus@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@flicker I know it's probably comforting to think to yourself that your entire personality and belief systems are baked into your core and could never be affected by any kind of illness.

Unfortunately it's not quite true, there are serious mental illnesses that could make you think you are a nazi or that you want to kill someone or whatever. This is one of the heartbreaking things about mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

If you've never seen it you wouldn't know what it's like of course, but it's like a great big chunk of the person you used to know and love has been replaced by a stranger in their body. When they start saying abberent shit it can be hard for people to remember it's the illness talking. To remember they are still "in there" somewhere.

[–] flicker@kbin.social -1 points 1 year ago

I'm not going to get into my history here but I've spent years in and out of institutions. If you want to make the argument that this is schizoaffective disorder I won't stop you, but I assure you that even if that is the case, we are still completely responsible for what we say, and I would argue even moreso because there is zero excuse for him not to be seeking care and treatment.

When grandma has dementia, and spits and bites, she is still responsible for the consequences of her actions. We will treat her with kindness and compassion and health care, but she isn't absolved of her part in hurting someone. That is the notion I rebel against. You are still responsible for your racism. You are not given a consequence free card because of your illness. Advocating for a consequence free environment is why people can claim Kanye should be forgiven and should not be treated as an intelligent, thinking, feeling human being. I will not allow someone to say he should be. That is dehumanizing and ultimately the opposite of kindness.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org -1 points 1 year ago

On the one hand, I have sympathy for him. I'm bipolar and I engage(d; I've been able to manage it as I get older) in self-destructive behavior when in the throes of a manic episode. Nothing close to what he did, but still. Also, you have to assume that the massive fame, fortune, and success warped his sense of self a great amount, setting him up for the disaster that he became. Plus people close to him were clearly exploiting the situation for their own gain.

On the other hand, he seems to have been on a decades-long spiral of bad behavior. And there's no excusing the horrible shit he said when it was coming to a head last year.

I like to say that being drunk doesn't absolve anyone of their responsibility for their actions while drunk. I drink a lot and it doesn't get me into trouble because I'm not the type to become belligerent, so lucky me.

I also don't think a manic episode excuses poor behavior. That's why I spent a lot of effort learning to manage my condition (plus, the symptoms start going into remission after a certain age).

Kanye had no excuse not to learn how to cope with and manage his condition. But his success gave him (almost) unlimited permission to do the opposite. He did this to himself. It's actually quite tragic. But he's still an asshole. He gets no free pass from me.