Adidas reaches out-of-court settlement with Kanye – FBC News

Kanye West and Adidas have been involved in numerous lawsuits over the past two years (AP PHOTO)

Adidas has reached an out-of-court settlement with rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, to end all legal proceedings between them, the sportswear giant said.

The German company added that no money changed hands in the deal.

Adidas and West have been embroiled in numerous lawsuits over the past two years, ever since the company ended its partnership with the rapper over his antisemitic comments.

“There are no more open issues and no money is going to either side, and we’re both moving on,” CEO Bjorn Gulden told reporters on a conference call, declining to provide further details of the deal.

“There were tensions on a lot of issues and… when you put the allegations on the right side and the allegations on the left side, both sides said we didn’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the allegations.”

The end of the partnership left Adidas with Yeezy shares worth approximately STG 840 million (US$1.7 billion); The sports brand sells the products in bulk and donates the proceeds to NGOs, including the anti-discrimination foundation it recently founded.

Adidas said the last Yeezy shares will be sold by the end of 2024.

The decision to stop “fighting” marks a sharp contrast to 2022. At the time, Adidas said it “does not tolerate anti-Semitism and other forms of hate speech.”

The statement added: “Ye’s recent comments and actions are unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and violate the company’s values ​​of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

Adidas and West began collaborating in 2014, resulting in a highly successful sportswear brand.

Demand for Yeezy products has not waned even after the outrage, with many Yeezy trainers performing well on the resale market and selling for hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds.