An explosive new investigation by the New York Times details how Adidas employees experienced frequent anti-Semitism from Grammy Award-winning rapper and Yeezy designer Kanye West for nearly a decade.

Adidas officially ended its partnership with the rapper and producer, who now goes by Ye, in October of 2022, after multiple virulently anti-Semitic remarks, including a tweet in which the rapper threatened to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”

However, West’s pattern of anti-Semitism dates back to at least 2013, according to the Times’ reporting.

At the start of her report, Megan Twohey detailed how, in his initial meeting with Adidas executives at their German headquarters in 2013, West expressed his dissatisfaction with a proposed shoe design by taking a marker and drawing a swastika — the display of which is banned in Germany — on the design. He also reportedly told Jewish Adidas executive Jon Wexler, who at the time was Adidas’ global director of entertainment and influencer marketing, to “kiss a picture of Hitler every day.”

  • can@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    1 year ago

    No, but some mental issues could lead to paranoid and conspiratorial thinking.

    Doesn’t excuse it of course.

      • Fisk400@feddit.nu
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        It excuses the behaviour right up until there are meds you can take to become better and you intentionally don’t take them. Then you are right back at being responsible for everything you do.

        • li10@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s still not that simple, as it’s at least in part the condition that makes it so they don’t want to take their meds or be treated.

          • Fisk400@feddit.nu
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            I am talking about when you are on meds and receiving treatment and then stop taking them. In the case of Kanye he often stops taking them because he has stated that they make him less creative.

            • tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Bipolar disorder treatment is complex, often medication will act differently in different mental states. You might be low energy and depressive, so they prescribe a medication that might have a stimulating effect, then it pushes you into a manic state and you need something less energizing. It’s very common for people with bipolar to decide to stop taking their medication.