Adidas will launch an investigation into allegations of misconduct against Kanye West after the company was accused of turning a blind eye to the artist’s inappropriate behavior during their Yeezy trainer pairing.
The decision to open an independent investigation was announced after one of Adidas’ major shareholders demanded clarification over the alleged incidents.
Rolling Stone magazine reported this week that the American rapper and fashion designer, also known as Ye, played pornography to staff at meetings and showed an intimate photo of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian during meetings. interviews, quoting former Adidas and Yeezy employees.
The sportswear brand cut ties with West last month over his anti-Semitic remarks, ending their lucrative partnership.
According to Rolling Stone, the former employees sent a letter to Adidas saying senior executives knew about West’s “problematic behavior” but “turned off their moral compass” and failed to protect his employees from “years of abuse.” verbal abuse, vulgar tirades and intimidation attacks.
“It is currently unclear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true,” Adidas said in a statement Thursday. “However, we take these allegations very seriously and have made the decision to immediately launch an independent investigation into the matter to address the allegations.”
Germany’s third-largest asset manager, Union Investment, wrote to Adidas on Thursday asking for more information about the claims. He holds a 1% stake in the group and is among the top 20 shareholders, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“Adidas must disclose when management and the supervisory board first became aware of the internal allegations,” Janne Werning, head of ESG capital markets and stewardship at Union Investment, told the Financial Times.
Adidas developed and sold sneakers with West for years under the Yeezy brand. Analysts estimated it to be around 7% of its overall revenue. Adidas said in October that eliminating Yeezy would halve its expected profits this year.
The German brand initially refused to respond to information on Wednesday. “We will not discuss the private conversations, details or events that led to our decision to end the adidas Yeezy partnership and decline to comment on any related speculation,” the company said, adding that it “has been and continues to be actively engaged in conversations.” with our employees about the events that led to our decision to end the partnership.
Belgian investor GBL, which is Adidas’ largest shareholder, and German asset manager Deka, which has a 0.8% stake, declined to comment. Frankfurt-based asset manager DWS, which holds a 1.8% stake, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.