Pelumi Agboola
Kanye West, often known as Ye, is one of the most influential and wealthiest musicians on the contemporary scene. Ye made a fortune after launching his brand Yeezy and partnering with retailers like Adidas and Gap, after which he landed himself on the Forbes Billionaire list with a net worth of $1.8 billion. But Kanye’s success took a massive hit on October 25th 2022, when Adidas terminated their partnership in response to the musician’s antisemitic outburst.
The move from Adidas took Ye’s net worth down to $500 million dollars, with the brand claiming that it does not “tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech” and that his “recent comments and actions have been unacceptable.”
Adidas was not alone in disassociating themselves from Ye. The likes of Balenciaga and Gap are amongst a range of brands that have cut ties with the rapper. Twitter and Instagram also suspended Kanye after his harmful statements and accusations about the Jewish community.
Why is Kanye in trouble?
Kanye recently made some harmful statements towards the Jewish community, saying that Jewish people only care about money and are not legitimate Jews. These ideas are incredibly harmful, and have resulted in violence towards, and stigmatisation of, the Jewish community for centuries. Not only did he make this comment, but West also tweeted that he would go “Defcon 3” on Jewish people, a horrifying claim of violence.
This is not the first time Ye has faced public scrutiny for his behaviour.
Going through a public divorce from billionaire reality star Kim Kardashian, fans have described West’s behaviour towards Kardashian as harassment, after he publicly displayed text messages between them on Instagram, and tweeted rude comments about his ex-wife and her family, whilst Kardashian had pleaded for him to keep their family issues private.
The list goes on with Ye and his offensive antics, including his decision to wear clothing with the slogan “White Live Matter” at the Balenciaga show on 3rd October 2022. This was received as incredibly insensitive, particularly in light of the huge amounts of work Black Lives Matter activists have done, and continue to do, to raise awareness of police brutality against black people and challenge institutional racism.
Many of Ye’s black fans were publicly outraged at this stunt, and in fact this is not the first time he has been accused of such insensitive ideas around race. In 2018, Ye sat in the TMZ newsroom and made the outrageous and hurtful statement that slavery was “a choice”, sending shockwaves through his fan base, with some vowing to completely turn away from the rapper.
Did brands respond to Kanye too late?
Following his recent outbursts, we’ve seen Adidas drop its partnership with West, after immense pressure from social media and other brands like it.
“Dropping the rapper from partnerships deals and removing his social media platforms seemed very appropriate but should have been done sooner.”
I can’t help but query, though, where was this outrage from brands when Kanye was offending black people and harassing his ex-wife? Many have long been very vocally critiquing West’s harmful words and actions, but brands have only recently started to take serious action.
Although Adidas can drop who they want when they want, to claim that they don’t tolerate “any other sort of hate speech” appears disingenuous, when Ye has said hateful things before and they made the man a billionaire.
Dropping the rapper from partnerships deals and removing his social media platforms seemed very appropriate but should have been done sooner.
Kanye and mental health
Another important puzzle in the piece of public discussion around Kanye’s behaviour is his mental health. Ye has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental health disorder that causes extreme mood swings both high and low. He has publicly spoken about it, for instance with Jimmy Kimmel in 2018, suggesting that “it’s important to talk about mental health, especially as a black man.” Kanye then went on to say that his outburst in the TMZ newsroom came from being in the midst of a particularly strong episode.
Telling David Letterman in 2019 that he has a “heightened connection with the universe” when he is “ramping up”, Kanye described his brain as having a sprained ankle, and the more pressure on it, the worse it gets.
“This is not a choice I think Ye can make himself – he needs the support”
Mental health is never an excuse for any type of hate. However, my question to those around Ye would be: why are you letting a man who is seemingly going through an episode go on these platforms and spread this harmful rhetoric? It’s incredibly irresponsible for a man going through a manic episode to be put on a very public platform to express his often controversial views.
Taking him off the internet might be one course of action, but I’d argue that Ye’s team need to stop letting him do these interviews and podcasts, and tell him to get the treatment he may need. This is not a choice I think Ye can make himself – he needs the support.
What do we do next?
Ye is not the first person to say something controversial, resulting in brands cutting ties with them, and he won’t be the last. We need to reflect on how we respond to these instances, particularly with media platforms and freedom of speech in mind.
I believe that one key step towards changing how these instances are dealt with is reframing how we think about entertainment and public debate. Entertainment should not be the priority – we shouldn’t wait for hate to spread and be a trending topic before brands and social media platforms start taking things seriously.
We should all have freedom of speech and expression, however when you are making claims that have and continue to affect marginalised groups, brands and companies need to act a lot quicker to minimise spreading hate.
Featured image courtesy of Axel Antas-Bergkvist via Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
In-article image courtesy of Kyle Brinker via Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
