UPDATE: Adidas is immediately terminating its partnership with Ye, fka Kanye West, and will stop all payments to him and his companies. Producer of Ye's Yeezy collection of sneakers, the company will take a $247m hit.

In a statement, Adidas said that West’s recent comments have been “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous" and that they violate its values of "diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

Following the Adidas announcement, Foot Locker pulled Yeezy sneakers off the shelves in its 874 stores. “While we remain a partner with adidas and carry a wide assortment of their collections—we will not be supporting any future Yeezy product drops, and we have instructed our retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites,” the company stated.

The pressure is evidently working. On 10/24 CAA became one of the latest to jump the Ye ship. Johnny Depp's former attorney, Camille Vasquez, also severed her relationship with the amok-running rapper, almost as quickly as it began. Meanwhile, Ye's ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, Kardashians matriarch Kris Jenner and A Tribe Called Quest rapper Q-Tip are among a growing number of celebrities using social media to show support for the Jewish community. Not long after CAA made its announcement, a meme that reads "I support my Jewish friends and the Jewish community" started making the rounds and got the attention of industry bigwigs such as Maverick's Guy Oseary. Will the defections continue? Stay tuned.

Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga and financial giant JP Morgan Chase have formally severed ties with Ye following the blitz of antisemitic and hateful rhetoric he recently littered across the Internet. But this is likely only the beginning. On 10/19, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel—in a fiery Financial Times op-ed (behind a paywall)—called on any company doing business with Ye, including streaming giants Apple and Spotify, to sever ties rather than simply turn a blind eye.

As Emanuel pointed out, "Silence is dangerous. It allows forms of hatred and racism, including antisemitism, to spread and become normalized. It coarsens and degrades our society and country."

While Emanuel recognized Ye's status as a "pop-culture icon," he explained that that's precisely why it's so imperative to speak up—the world is watching.

In 2018 Ye appeared on TMZ Live and boldly proclaimed, "400 years of slavery sounds like a choice." His stream-of-consciousness rant was televised for all to see. Van Lathan was the only person on set brave enough to interject. "Kanye, you’re entitled to your opinion; you’re entitled to believe whatever you want," he said at the time. "But there is fact and real-world, real-life consequences behind everything you just said.”

Over the last four years, Ye has continued to make headlines for his outlandish behavior, incessant online bullying and hurtful commentary (and his affiliation with ultra-right-wing politicians and activists—according to the Los Angeles Times, the right-wing social-media platform Parler announced this week that Ye had agreed to purchase it), all while hiding behind his 2016 bipolar diagnosis.

"Mental illness is not an excuse for racism, hatred or antisemitism," Emanuel pointed out. "Millions of people affected by mental illness do not perpetuate hateful ideologies. Others brush his comments off as just words, but hateful words far too easily become hateful actions."

pic.twitter.com/2sFtYEA8Si
— Elliott Wilson (@ElliottWilson) May 1, 2018

For Emanuel, the only way out for Ye is atonement. He used Mel Gibson as an example, citing the actor's 2006 drunken antisemitic diatribe after he was pulled over in Malibu. A public apology followed by "a commitment to understanding the consequences of his action" aided in his public redemption.

Aside from a half-baked apology during a manic television appearance with Piers Morgan, however, Ye has yet to show remorse for his egregious comments. Until he does, Emanuel is pleading with the corporate gods to hit Ye where it hurts—his wallet.

For those who imagine Ye's words didn't fall right into the hands of the worst people in the world, consider the following from Los Angeles:

Today in Los Angeles. Lots and lots of honking. pic.twitter.com/W1jrURYcpk
— Laraine Newman (@larainenewman) October 23, 2022