Kanye West’s online Yeezy store shut down following bizarre Super Bowl ad that he 'had to shoot on his iPhone'
Just days after spending millions on a Super Bowl advert to encourage fans to head to his website, Kanye West's online store has seemingly been shut down.
The musician, 47, used his 30-second slot of air time to direct people to the Yeezy website, where t-shirts featuring a swastika were on sale.
In the short commercial, which was broadcast on Sunday (9 February), West - who is now officially known by Ye - was seen in what appeared to be a dentist's surgery.
The 'Runaway' rapper said: "What's up guys. I spent all the money for the commercial on these new teeth.
Advert
"So once again I had to shoot it on the iPhone.
"Erm... uhm.... go to Yeezy.com."
However, the Yeezy website is no longer accessible after he began to put products emblazoned with the symbol used by Adolf Hitler's Nazi party on the market.
Online visitors are instead greeted with an error message which states: "This store is unavailable."
Shopify, the e-commerce platform which hosts a string of online businesses including Yeezy, has since confirmed that the brand's website has been deactivated.
A statement shared with NBC News explained: "All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform.
"This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify."
Shortly after West's Super Bowl advert aired, fans began to realise that there was only one item available for shoppers to purchase.
A plain white t-shirt which was emblazoned with a black swastika on the front, reportedly costing £16 ($20), was the only thing on site.
It wasn't accompanied by any description, apart from the characters 'HH-01'.
It is unclear how many, if any, sales of these were made or whether they were shipped out to customers.
West's bizarre business decision came just days after he had wrote a post on X saying he would 'never sell a swastika tee'.
On Saturday (8 February), the father-of-four wrote: "I would never sell a swastika tee because people could be physically harmed wearing it ... I love my fans and supporters."
According to Variety, there was a range of non-branded clothing available for purchase on Yeezy before the Super Bowl advert was broadcast.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADF) slammed West for the sale of the swastika t-shirts in a statement shared on Monday (10 February).
"At the Super Bowl, hate took a front-row seat," the ADL said. "Kanye West promoted an ad with a link to swastika t-shirts, broadcasting it to millions on live TV.
"Just days earlier, his dangerous rants on X praised Hitler, self-identified as a Nazi, and spread antisemitic vitriol.
"In 2022, ADL identified 30 incidents of harassment, assault, and vandalism linked to Kanye's online outbursts. We refuse to let hate win. Bigotry has consequences."
The ADL called on Fox Sports to 'condemn this ad' and 'never give hate a platform again' in an online petition.
Topics: Kanye West, Celebrity, Super Bowl, Business, Fashion
Olivia Burke