Famous rapper, designer, and public figure Kanye “Ye” West has been at the forefront of controversy in the recent month for anti-semetic statements leading to the termination of his contract with Adidas. 

This controversy began on Oct. 3 when West hosted a show at Paris Fashion Week wearing a self-designed “White Lives Matter” shirt that matched his friend and political commentator, Candace Owens.  

He addressed the shirts on Oct. 6 when he appeared on Fox News for an interview with Tucker Carlson.

“I thought the idea of me wearing it was funny,” West said. “Why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is because they do.” 

In unreleased clips from the same interview, West also commented on the Jewish community.

“I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa,” West said, speaking on what his kids were learning at school, while also using anti-semetic stereotypes in the process. “At least it will come with some financial engineering.”

West received a lot of backlash for these actions, specifically the WLM shirts,  most notably from the rapper and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“I’m talking to you because this is hurting our people,” Combs said in text conversations posted to Instagram by West. “Stop.” 

West responded to the criticism by implying that Combs was being controlled by Jewish leaders in Hollywood, a wide-spread conspiracy theory with origins dating back to before the Holocaust. 

“Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me,” West said. “I told you this was war.”

These were West’s first signs of anti-semitism, later on Oct. 8 he tweeted that he was going to “go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” claiming that he “can’t be Anti Semetic because black people are actually jew also.” 

He ended the tweet with the sentiment, “You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda” 

Twitter removed the tweet the next day. 

After the tweet, an anti-semetic hate group hung a banner above freeway 405 in Los Angeles saying “Kanye is right about the Jews” while raising their arms in a Nazi salute. 

This was the breaking point for Adidas. The brand formally terminated their partnership on Oct. 25 releasing a public statement, claiming that “Adidas does not tolerate anti-semitism and any other sort of hate speech” 

Furthermore, the brand will “end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies.” 

The break is estimated to cost Adidas 250 million pounds ($289,268,750) which is a short-term negative impact for the multi-billion dollar company. 

West on the other hand will take a more severe blow to his financial status. According to Forbes, without his Adidas partnership, West will no longer be a billionaire. He will be worth $400 million, that sum coming from his real estate, cash, music catalog, and 5% stake in Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, Skims. 

Other companies that refused to promote West include Gap, Balenciaga, Peloton, TJX (owner of TJMaxx, Homegoods, and Marshalls), Christie’s auction center, Footlocker, Def Jam Records, and Donda Sports.

Some believe that West’s recent actions are a result of manic episodes. The famous rapper has been open about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the past. However, mental illness can not excuse the hateful language West has exhibited in the past month.