Boy George has lashed out at Kim Kardashian for failing to talk out against ex-husband Kanye West following a series of anti-semitic remarks made by the rapper and entrepreneur.
West has been universally condemned for sharing a lot of vitriolic statements in regards to the Jewish community, amongst them a tweet a posted to his official Twitter account through which he claims to wish ‘death con 3 on Jewish people.’
His views have prompted growing calls for the unpredictable star to be dropped by sports giant Adidas, who manufacture his Yeezy footwear and clothing brand and make upwards of $1.5 billion annually off the deal.
But Culture Club singer George, 61, has criticised Kim Kardashian – who co-parents 4 children with West – for not using her considerable social media presence to talk out against her ex-husband.
Outrage: Boy George has lashed out at Kim Kardashian for failing to talk out against ex-husband Kanye West following a series of anti-semitic remarks made by the rapper
In a video shared with Instagram followers on Saturday evening, he said: ‘I’m type of appalled that no more artists have come out and spoke against what he’s saying.
‘I’m appalled that Kim Kardashian hasn’t come out and added her voice to this debate, because this woman has children with Kanye, so she must understand as a mother what it looks like for little Jewish children to listen to these f***ing comments, how demoralising and terrifying it have to be.’
Visibly emotional, he added: ‘As a gay man I even have experienced years of prejudice, you realize, so the thought of doing that to another person based on their race or their color or their sexuality or their gender is just f***ing appalling to me, and it ought to be appalling to you.’
Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel recently spoke out in favor of Adidas dropping Kanye West within the wake of a slew of anti-Semitic comments generated by the controversial rapper and businessman.
In an op-ed for the Financial Times, the Endeavor co-CEO wrote that there ought to be ‘no tolerance anywhere for West’s anti-Semitism’ and encouraged brands to full-stop stop partnering and dealing with the designer.
‘Apple and Spotify, which host West’s music, whoever organizes West’s tours, and Adidas, which collaborates with West on his fashion line, should all stop working with him,’ wrote Emanuel – essentially calling for a blacklisting.
Should Adidas and the opposite brands listed by Emanuel drop West, his status as a billionaire, which is basically pegged to the valuation of YEEZY, could fall away.
The German shoe company makes about $1.5 billion annually off of its partnership with West due to the recognition of YEEZY which began in 2015.
In only a number of short weeks, West, who now goes by the name Ye, has tweeted that he was going to go ‘death con 3 on Jewish people,’ along with making a lot of other vitriolic statements that play to negative tropes about Jewish people.
‘Silence is dangerous,’ continued Emanuel. ‘It allows types of hatred and racism, including anti-Semitism, to spread and develop into normalized.
‘It coarsens and degrades our society and country.’
Emanuel, himself a Jew, is widely considered to be one of the powerful men within the entertainment industry. West has repeatedly blamed the ‘Jewish media’ and ‘Jewish community’ within the music industry for toying with him.
Emanuel can be good friends with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with whom West has had a friendly relationship lately.
It’s unclear how Musk, once he officially takes over Twitter, would manage West’s anti-Semitic and otherwise offensive statements. West was suspended from the platform following his initial tirade earlier this month.
‘Those that proceed to do business with West are giving his misguided hate an audience,’ wrote Emanuel.
Adidas’ ties with Hitler and Nazi Germany
The Dassler brothers, who took the trade names of Adidas and Puma, began shoe production within the Twenties of their hometown of Herzogenaurach, Germany, a hot spot for shoe making in Bavaria with greater than 100 individual shoemakers.
What distinguished Rudolf and Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler was not only their willingness to develop into members of the Nazi party, ensuring their business success under Aryan domination, but their ambitions.
With the expansion of the war in December 1943, Hitler converted civilian business operations to military manufacturing.
Now as a substitute of creating sports shoes, the Dasslers produced boots for Nazi soldiers in addition to the Panzerschreck bazookas of their factory.
Each brothers were called to duty and Rudolf joined the Gestapo.
Adi served just one 12 months while his brother stayed within the service until the tip of the war.
When Rudolf found himself in an American internment camp, he suspected he had been denounced by his brother who was now busy making baseball and basketball boots for Americans.
A lifelong grudge separated the brothers. Their single company was split into two — Adi began ‘Adidas’ and Rudolf launched ‘Puma’
‘It is a moment in history where the stakes are high and being open about our values, and living them, is crucial. Silence and inaction are usually not an option.’
Adidas is in an especially tenuous position given its history as a Nazi-run company that manufactured boots for Hitler’s army in addition to Panzerschreck bazookas utilized in the war.
The Anti-Defamation League also wrote an open letter to Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted and Chair Thomas Rabe urging the brand to drop its collaboration with YEEZY.
The organization wrote, ‘In light of Kanye West’s increasingly strident antisemitic remarks over the past few weeks, we were disturbed to learn that Adidas plans to proceed to release latest products from his Yeezy brand with none seeming acknowledgement of the controversy surrounding his most up-to-date remarks.
‘We’re surprised and anxious that Adidas – a brand that supports inclusion and variety – continues not only to support the Ye product line, but to release latest products at the same time as he continues to espouse hateful antisemitic ideas to his 31 million Twitter followers.
‘We urge Adidas to reconsider supporting the Ye product line and to issue an announcement making clear that the Adidas company and community has no tolerance by any means for antisemitism.’
West’s partnership with Adidas has been under review since early October.
‘Adidas has at all times been about creativity, innovation and supporting athletes and artists to realize their vision. The adidas Yeezy partnership is one of the successful collaborations in our industry’s history,’ said the corporate.
‘We also recognize that each one successful partnerships are rooted in mutual respect and shared values.’
Based on bank estimates, YEEZY is valued at $4-$5 billion. That figure, nonetheless, was based on the brand’s relationship with each Gap and Adidas.
Earlier this 12 months, West abruptly terminated his relationship with Gap Inc., a call that reportedly worn out $1 billion within the valuation of YEEZY.
If the Adidas partnership goes south too, following West’s waterfall of antisemitic comments, his net value could plummet one other few billion, placing him ever nearer to mere multi-multi-millionaire status.
His contract with Adidas runs through 2026.
Celebrities including Amy Schumer and David Schwimmer have also supported the ADL’s call for Adidas to drop West.
Schwimmer, 55, recently shared a video of West, 45, saying: ‘The thing I can say about Adidas is, I can literally say anti-Semitic s**t and they cannot drop me, I can say anti-Semitic things and Adidas cannot drop me. Now what? Now what?
Schwimmer was supported by Friends co-star Jen Aniston in his post calling for the brand to drop Ye.
While the ex-husband of Kim Kardashian has been known to have unpredictable outbursts on social media – he was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder in 2016 – his rants have develop into more frequent this 12 months.
Recently, West hired Camille Vasquez, the attorney who defended Johnny Depp, to handle his business interests.
Vasquez, who gained national attention because of her representation of Depp in his heated defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, can be among the many lawyers on the Brown Rudnick firm now working with West, TMZ reports.
The belief that West has lawyered up comes after high-fashion brand Balenciaga dropped West as a business partner.
