Adidas has launched an investigation into disgraced rapper and fashion mogul Kanye “Ye” West after former Yeezy staffers accused him of misconduct, alleging he would watch porn during professional meetings and shared lewd photographs of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
Adidas announced its probe into West after up to two dozen former Yeezy alleged in an open letter that the disgraced mogul had regularly engaged in inappropriate workplace conduct that made people feel uncomfortable. The complaints claim West would frequently interrupt meetings to watch hardcore porn, which he allegedly used as a manipulation tactic to knock people off guard. Worse still, the staffers claim that Adidas executives were well aware of West’s alleged behavior and frequently looked the other way.
“Hey, just so you know, there’s gonna be this whole porn-reference thing,” an Adidas vice president allegedly told Yeezy staffers.
All staffers spoke to Rolling Stone on condition of anonymity, fearing legal reprisals from West and the Adidas brand. One anonymous staffer claimed that West would frequently reference sex when discussing his fashion products.
“We create products of passion,” one staffer claims Ye said. “I literally want to fuck my shoes. That’s how good they are.”
Rolling Stone profiled one particular incident in late 2013 wherein staffers claim West showed a hardcore pornography video. “He showed me the video of Francesca Le, a buff porn star with a strap-on dildo fucking another girl in the ass,” one former staffer said. “He’s like, ‘What do you think of it?’ Not laughing at all.”
Two other staffers told Rolling Stone that West would also show “homemade sex tapes of West engaging in sexual activities with women.”
West himself tacitly confirmed some of these allegations in a recent 30-minute documentary released on YouTube that featured a scene of him showing a pornographic video to two Adidas executives on a phone. Per Rolling Stone:
Moments later in the documentary, West alludes to having a history of antics like ‘playing the porn’ and ‘screaming’ as elements of his Adidas relationships: ‘We’ve done all this,’ he says. Shervin Pishevar, a venture capitalist who worked with West, chimes in to tell the executives, ‘What you’re feeling right now is extreme discomfort, and that is exactly the point.’
The open letter sent to the Adidas board, which aims to speak for a collective of employees ‘who may be fearful of speaking up,’ claims that the scene ‘is by no means a new intimidation approach’ and that ‘Kanye’s problematic behavior started within the first year of his partnership with the Adidas brand.’
The former staffers also claim that Kanye West showed a sexually explicit image of his now ex-wife Kim Kardashian to a prospective employee during a job interview.
In another job interview that allegedly took place in 2018, West told a female candidate that she should “watch porn for 10 minutes” if she were to ever “get stuck creatively.”
During meetings, the employees claimed that West would frequently disrupt the proceedings by whipping out his laptop so he can watch porn.
“And he’s like, ‘I know it’s uncomfortable, but I kind of need this in the background to keep me focused.’ And you’d be like, ‘Uhhhhh, oh-kay,'” a former staffer said.
Adidas responded to the allegations and asserted that the company will conduct a thorough investigation.
“It is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true,” the response said. “However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations.”
Kanye’s billionaire status took a nosedive in October when his longtime shoe partner ended its deal with him after various anti-hate groups petitioned the company for over a week in the wake of his antisemitic remarks.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said. “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,” it added.
Immediately after Adidas dropped out, Gap announced it pulled all of West’s Yeezy merchandise and shuttered YeezyGap.com.
“Our former partner’s recent remarks and behavior further underscore why we are taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap product from our stores,” Gap said.
West’s apparent penchant for porn was formalized in 2018 when he became the creative director for the first-ever Pornhub Awards ceremony. A year later, he professed he had become a born-again Christian and released a record titled Jesus Is King. However, West has since confessed to a continuing struggle with porn usage. In September 2022, he lamented on Instagram that “pornography destroyed my family,” referring to his ex-wife’s appearance in Playboy and his own online browsing. “I deal with the addiction instagram promotes it,” he wrote.
After the antisemitism controversy that blew up his relationship with Adidas, West, pledged on his Twitter account to abstain from “adult films” for 30 days.
I’m not talking to nooobody for a month pic.twitter.com/g1JYFmCGEo
— ye (@kanyewest) November 3, 2022
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