The fallout from the antisemitic comments made by Ye—the rapper and fashion designer formerly known as Kanye West—hit the sports world in some significant ways Tuesday.
Ye was dropped by apparel company Adidas after a decade-long business relationship with the company. It announced that it would “end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies,” effective immediately. Ye’s Donda Sports agency also lost two of its most prominent clients: NFL star Aaron Donald and NBA star Jaylen Brown.
Donda Sports president Antonio Brown will not be leaving the company, however. On Tuesday, he released a statement of support for Ye and confirmed he remains with the company, calling the backlash to Ye’s comments “reactionary and selective outrage.”
“I remain true to the mission of Donda and our amazing staff and community,” Antonio Brown said in his statement. “I remain dedicated to helping clarify statements taken out of proportion by the media. I remain committed to bringing new ideas, experiences, and designs to our world. I remain in support of the humanity that is Ye.”
The statement comes after a string of controversies surrounding Ye, culminating in a number of antisemitic comments over the last few weeks. Adidas initially announced that it would review its relationship with him after he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at a Paris Fashion Week event. He later had his Twitter and Instagram accounts locked after making inflammatory, antisemitic statements including that he planned to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”
Those statements continued in a recent string of interviews, some of which were edited to remove some of his comments or pulled altogether. HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted pulled an episode with Ye before it went to air, after he used the platform to “reiterate more hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes,” according to producer Maverick Carter.
During an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast last week, Ye claimed that he could say “antisemitic s--- and Adidas cannot drop me,” comments made before Adidas did just that Tuesday.
Donald and his wife, Erica, said that Ye’s “recent comments and displays of hate and antisemitism are the exact opposite of how we choose to live our lives and raise our children,” in their statement about leaving Donda Sports. Jaylen Brown apologized for previously stating that he would remain with the company, adding that he has “always, and will always, continue to stand strongly against any antisemitism, hate speech, misrepresentation, and oppressive rhetoric of any kind.”
