Adidas launches investigation into Kanye West allegations he showed employees porn
Adidas is set to launch an independent investigation following allegations that Kanye West showed pornography to staff during meetings.
Kanye was dropped from his partnership sportswear giant last month after he posted antisemitic comments to his social media.
Anonymous allegations from Adidas and Yeezy staff surfaced earlier this week through a Rolling Stone article, claiming that Ye showed them intimate pictures of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
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Allegations also suggested that the Adidas management team purposefully overlooked the rapper and fashion designer's 'problematic behaviour' and failed to protect staff from 'years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks.'
A letter from anonymous staff members claimed that Kanye also tried to intimidate them through behaviour that was 'provocative, frequently sexualised, and often directed toward women.'
The letter, seen by Rolling Stone, complained about Kanye's 'very sick pattern of predacious behaviour toward women' who worked for him.
"He has, in years past, exploded at women in the room with offensive remarks, and would resort to sexually disturbing references when providing design feedback", the letter reportedly read.
"This type of response from a brand partner is one that Adidas employees should never be subjected to, nor should Adidas leadership ever tolerate."
Kanye had been in a brand partnership with Adidas since 2013, under which he retained full ownership of the Yeezy brand and complete creative control of the brand.
Despite allegations that Kanye had been a problem for years, his relationship with the company only soured when he began spouting hateful, anti-semitic speech in to Twitter.
Confirming plans to investigate these new claims against West, Adidas said in a statement on Thursday (24 November) that 'it is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true.'
They continued: "However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations."
These allegations come just one month after Kanye published a 30-minute documentary called Last Week, which captured him playing a pornographic video for two Adidas executives in an awkward encounter.
“He’s got the same voice doesn’t he?” Ye can be heard saying in the video, as he shows the two men the porn clip in an effort to get his point across.
“Is this a porn movie?” one man then asks, before Ye moves the camera closer to his face.
Eventually, one of the men exclaims: “Jesus Christ… come on, man!", swatting the phone away.
One of Kanye's associates then tries to explain: “What you’re feeling right now is extreme discomfort, and that is exactly the point. Because when someone steals this man’s ideas, his creations, it’s like you’re stealing a child."
LADbible has contacted Kanye West's representatives for comment.
Topics: Kanye West, Celebrity, Adidas, Music
Ali Condon