Not too long after Adidas ended its massive deal with Kanye West and Yeezy following his anti-Semitic remarks, former employees of the corporation have come forward with allegations of his misconduct.
The staffers claim that the disgraced rapper, 45, showed workers porn against their will, as well as explicit images of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian as an “intimidation tactic.” Adidas executives are also being accused of turning away and allegedly allowing the Donda musician to create an uncomfortable, “abusive” workplace culture.
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Former Yeezy Staffers Accuse Kanye West Of Misconduct
One young creative recently claimed that West (now legally known as Ye) showed him an explicit picture of the Kardashians star, 41, during a 2018 job interview, as Rolling Stone reported last week. “My wife just sent me this,” the Grammy winner allegedly told the interviewee while opening up a “very revealing and personal” photo of Kardashian on his phone.
One other former employee reportedly also remembered West showing them an explicit video of Kardashian— who filed for divorce from the "Heartless" hitmaker in 2021— to the Yeezy creative team that same year.
When asked about Ye showing images of the SKKN mogul, a third person seemingly confirmed the allegations, according to Rolling Stone. They claimed that Ye was "not afraid to show explicit images or talk about situations that should be kept private."
Adidas Accused Of Overlooking Ye's Problematic Actions
In a letter to Adidas by former Yeezy staffers that was obtained by Rolling Stone, the writers noted that Ye's "problematic behavior" was allegedly overlooked by Adidas management. Staff allegations included claims that Adidas "turned their moral compass off" and failed to protect employees from "years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades and bullying attacks" from the Yeezy designer.
In the open letter (titled "The Truth About Yeezy: A Call to Action for Adidas Leadership" which was obtained by the mag), many high-ranking Yeezy employees called out Adidas executives for allegedly allowing West to create an "abusive" company culture.
More Details Of West's Alleged Inappropriate Workplace Behavior
In the documentary footage that Ye recently uploaded to YouTube, the father of four could be seen holding his phone horizontally in front of visibly uncomfortable businessmen as a video played. "Is this a porn movie?" one of them asked Ye, to which he replied, "Yeah."
One of the men (whose face was blurred out) replied, "Jesus Christ, come on, man. Come on," while trying to push Ye's phone away as the "Runaway" rapper attempted to force them to watch more of the clip. Former employees further claimed to Rolling Stone that Ye would often show pornographic images and videos— including his own sex tapes— to them. "
"I feel it was a tactic to break a person down and establish their unwavering allegiance to him, testing and destroying people’s boundaries," one person said. Another claimed that West specifically targeted female employees.
In one alleged 2017 incident, Ye yelled at a senior female employee of the Yeezy design team, expressing that a sneaker was not up to his standards. He reportedly looked down at his foot, and back up at the employee, and said, "I want you to make me a shoe I can f—k."
Ye previously opened up about his "porn addiction" in a September Instagram post for his 18.5 million followers, writing that it "destroyed his family." He wrote, "Hollywood is a giant brothel Pornography destroyed my family I deal with the addiction instagram promotes it Not gonna let it happen to Northy and Chicago."
Ye shares four children— daughter North, 9, son Saint, 6, daughter Chicago, 4, and son Psalm, 3— with Kardashian, whom he married in 2014. Earlier this month, Ye said he would vow to give up porn, sex and talking for an entire month, although he soon failed. He tweeted at the time, "I’m taking a 30 day cleanse. A verbal fast. No alcohol. No adult films. No intercourse."
