The Adidas boss, who was rocked last year by his split from Kanye West, was forced to apologize after appearing to put the rapper’s anti-Semitic comments into perspective.
• Read also: Adidas: “Positive impact” after break with Kanye West
Björn Gölden, head of the Three Stripes brand, expressed his regret at what he described as a “wrong statement” on his part.
He expressed his regret to the head of one of the major associations fighting anti-Semitism (ADL, Anti-Defamation League). The latter, Jonathan Greenblatt, announced it on Thursday evening in a message on X (formerly Twitter) and the Adidas group confirmed the apology on Friday.
Mr. Golden drew criticism after an “In Good Company” radio broadcast last week, in which he said that Kanye West, now known as Ye, did not truly mean anti-Semitic remarks he made last year.
Among other public missteps, Yee wrote on Twitter in the fall of 2022 that he was going to attack Jews in a post that was deleted by the microblogging site.
The controversy led the equipment manufacturer to abruptly end its lucrative collaboration with the rapper and his Yeezy sneaker collection.
In his apology, Mr. Golden stressed that Adidas “fully opposes the hateful hatred expressed by Ye” last fall.
With his arrival at the helm of Adidas at the beginning of the year, the Norwegian inherited this file, which is considered toxic to the group’s reputation and financial resources. The cessation of marketing of Yeezy sneakers resulted in a deficit of 1.2 billion euros.
“Our decision to end our partnership with Yi due to his unacceptable comments and behavior was absolutely the right one,” an Adidas spokesperson said in a letter sent to AFP on Friday.
This source adds: “Our position has not changed: hatred, whatever it is, has no place in sports or in society, and we will remain determined to fight it.”
Adidas has begun stripping some of the Yeezy inventory it took off shelves.
The first wave in May achieved sales of about 400 million euros, and the results of the second operation in August will be announced later.
Part of the proceeds, i.e. 110 million euros, went to associations combating racism and anti-Semitism, including the Anti-Defamation League, as previously announced by Adidas.
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