Kanye West’s Yeezy products to be removed from Gap stores
Gap plan to take “immediate steps” to remove all Yeezy products from their stores due to Kanye West‘s recent comments.
Last month, West and Gap ended their fashion partnership, a 10-year deal they first established in 2020.
Ye then alleged that Gap had excluded him from decisions around the product’s price points and aesthetics, and accused them of stealing his designs. Soon after the announcement of their collaboration in 2020, West took to Twitter to lament his exclusion from the company’s board. “I don’t have a board seat at Gap,” the rapper wrote at the time, “Black board seats matter.”
Though the partnership was terminated last month, Yeezy products remained in Gap stores and online through the Yeezy Gap online shop. Now, the company has confirmed that it will remove them from in-person stores, with the online store already shut own.
“In September, Gap announced ending its Yeezy Gap partnership,” they wrote in a statement on Tuesday (October 25). “Our former partner’s recent remarks and behaviour further underscore why. We are taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap product from our stores and we have shut down Yeezygap.com.”
The statement added: “Antisemitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values.
“On behalf of our customers, employees and shareholders, we are partnering with organisations that combat hate and discrimination.”
In the last few days, the rapper has been dropped by Adidas, after the company faced pressure to end its lucrative sneaker deal with West. After also losing deals with Def Jam, JP Morgan Chase, Balenciaga and his lawyer and booking agency – West’s net worth has reportedly plummeted from $2billion (£1.3billion) to $400million (£348million).
West’s recent deluge of controversies stemmed from a stunt at this year’s Paris Fashion Week, where he wore a shirt emblazoned with the white nationalist dogwhistle “White Lives Matter”. He was heavily criticised for the tone-deaf move, leading the rapper to double, triple and quadruple down on his viewpoint. In the process – publicly responding to a call-out from Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs – West made an antisemitic comment on Instagram, after which he was booted from the platform.
West has refused to accept that the term “anti-semitism” exists because he claims it’s “not factual”, but he has since offered something of an “apology” to those whom he’s offended with his comments.
This week (October 24), Kim Kardashian said she “[stands] together with the Jewish community” in the wake of her ex-husband’s comments.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also denounced West’s comments, but said that his music won’t be removed from the streaming service.
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Will Richards
NME
