What Adidas Knew About Kanye

from New York Times I'm Michael abaro. this is the. [Music]. daily today when Adidas terminated its. multi-billion dollar partnership with. Kanye West over his anti-semitic remarks. it seemed from the outside like a. straightforward story of a celebrity. suddenly. imploding my colleague investigative.

reporter Megan Tui got inside the. partnership and found that the reality. was far more. [Music]. complicated it's Friday November. [Music]. 10th Megan I want to start with a very. simple question why have you and why. have we the times spent all this time. investigating Kanye West and his.

relationship with Adidas well Michael if. you'll recall it was almost exactly one. year ago that Adidas's cut ties with. Kanye West as he was in the midst of. making anti-semitic and other public. inflammatory comments and as he. basically melted down as he it was like. he was having a public implosion and. this company said we're no longer doing. business with him we don't tolerate this. kind of behavior this goes against our. ethics so we're ending this relationship.

ship right and end of story to some. extent yes but while the end of this. story had played out in public there was. a lot we didn't know about the beginning. of the relationship and about the middle. of the relationship this collaboration. was by and large a total black box for. you know years and years there was a lot. that we didn't know about the financial. details of the collaboration and we also. didn't know to what extent the behavior.

we saw from Kanye West last fall was. either kind of an unusual blip or. actually part of a pattern of behavior. that had played out inside this. partnership so as you often do you're. investigating people with a lot of power. and a lot of money to see what's really. going on inside this relationship so how. do you go about doing this reporting so. I traveled to Portland Oregon the US. headquarters of Adidas and to California. where Kanye West has lived and largely.

operated out of for many years and I. ended up interviewing current and former. employees of Adidas and of Kanye West. who now goes by yay and other people who. were in the orbit of this collaboration. and I also was able to obtain hundreds. of internal records previously. undisclosed documents that included text. messages internal text messages among. top Adidas Executives as they were. scrambling to respond to this contracts.

company memos and other Financial. records every stone imaginable it sounds. like and what did you find and where. should we start in talking about those. findings so my reporting goes all the. way back to the very beginning of this. partnership in. 2013 and what's important to know is. that Adidas was feeling quite stalled at. that time it was in the hyper. competitive market of sne ERS it had.

fallen way behind Nike Nike had in the. 1980s done a deal with Michael Jordan. who was then an upand cominging. basketball player and had basically. blown the competition away ever since so. come 2013 Nike has 50% of the US. athletic shoe market compared to Adidas. which has just 8% wow so a true also ran. exactly and they are desperately looking. for ways to start catching up.

and so enter Kanye West and the Grammy. goes to The College Dropout Kanye. West everybody want to know what I would. do if I didn't win I guess we'll never. know one of the most popular musicians. of all time for a long time people was. telling me man if you go out to New York. you could really kill the game out there. you know he had started his career. producing music for other musicians.

before becoming a complete rap star in. his own right when someone comes up and. says something like I am a god everybody. says who does he think he is I just told. you who I thought I was a God that's who. I think I am that year he had come out. with yet another album yeus which was. you know topping the charts and beyond. that he had just become this incredible. cultural Force Kim and Kanye got engaged. everybody he was engaged to Kim.

Kardashian who was the star of reality. television and soon to be of social. media they are in the news a lot I think. they're in the news more than the news. so he was seen as somebody whose power. and influence and celebrity stretch. beyond the music that he made you don't. realize I am so. frustrated like I am so frustrated like. I am but for all of his success in music. Kanye wanted more I've got so much I.

want to give I've got ideas on color. palettes I've got ideas on Silhouettes. he had this burning desire for more. creativity for more power for more. influence at this time a lot of it was. channeled into a burning ambition to. break into fashion I eventually want to. be the anchor of the first trillion doll. company but he kept hearing that the. best could hope for was to put his name.

on other people's products so he in many. ways needs Adidas almost as much as. Adidas needs him and so Adidas looks at. Kanye and Kanye looks at Adidas and they. see an opportunity to serve each other's. interests right solve each other's. problems in that moment. [Music]. exactly okay so what happens so Adidas. offers Kanye the most generous contract.

it has offered a non-athlete ever it's a. contract that can stretch into. 2017 he is going to be a genuine. co-creator of both shoes and apparel he. will collect a 15% royalty on net sales. of whatever they make and he will get at. least $3 million a year guaranteed a. good deal a good deal a good deal and no. sooner had they signed Kanye sends a.

text message to one of the Adidas. Executives who helped execute the deal. saying the world changes now with three. exclamation points so Adidas is clearly. making a very meaningful bet on Kanye do. they have any. reservations no one of the things that I. learned in talking to people who had. worked so closely in this collaboration. is that they knew that Kanye was coming. into this contract with a history of. being dramatic and controversial and.

provocative I mean if you'll recall. after Hurricane Katrina he famously said. on TV that President George W bush. didn't care about black people which had. caused some controversy and he was also. known for jumping up on stage to protest. Taylor Swift winning an MTV award which. got a ton of attention and so Adidas is. saying listen maybe that provocative. streak will actually work in our favor.

that it's going to help benefit whatever. products we make together right because. after all we're in an era of celebrity. where bad news and good news gets kind. of ambiguous it's all good attention. right attention is attention and can. help Drive sales but almost as soon as. they get into business together Adidas. is glimpsing behavior behind the scenes. that could be potentially much more. problematic like what well I mean.

shortly after signing the contract Kanye. West is hosting Adidas Executives and. other employees at his apartment here in. New York and in the middle of the. meeting he forces them to watch. pornography ens simply to spark. creativity it's a very unusual. introduction to the company yes and I. discovered something else startling that. happened just a couple weeks. later Kanye was in Germany the.

headquarters of Adidas and they're. rolling out the red carpet for him. they're so excited about this budding. partnership and they've assembled shoes. and a mood board pinned with inspiration. and sketches of designs of what the. first shoe could potentially look like. and none of the designs look like what. Kanye had tried to convey that he wanted. and to emphasize his frustration he. takes a marker to the toe of a shoe.

design and he draws a swastika he draws. an actual swastika on the shoe he draws. an actual swasa on the sketch of this. shoe what is the reaction in the room. well it was shocking um especially for. Germans in the group where it is illegal. in many cases to draw or otherwise. present swastikas and this is also. especially sensitive for this particular. company the founder of Adidas like many. other businessmen from his time belonged. to the Nazi party and they were actually.

just miles from nurburg where you know. members of the Third Reich were tried. for crimes against humanity. right so what comes of this really. shocking Behavior well in that case an. American manager who was part of that. Gathering kind of assured his German. colleagues who were expressing concern. that Kanye West didn't understand that.

what he was doing was illegal and that. he was really just voicing his. frustration but you know whether it's. the meeting in which the porn was shown. or this meeting in which Kanye drew the. swastika there are little glimpses these. kind of red flags that are going up and. some people see them and some people. don't I think overall there is an. attitude that that's just the price of. doing business with a creative genius so. in spite of these early red flags things. proceed yeah absolutely they just jump.

into the work together and listen the. Adidas's employees learn that Kanye West. operates unlike anybody else they've. ever worked with he is brimming with. ideas and can be enthusiastic to the. point of chaos and those people who work. with him say he was also so obsessed. with detail that it could be hard to get. anything done mhm but eventually by the. beginning of 2015 they have finalized.

the first Yeezy sneakers among them the. Yeezy boost 350 and it's this Sleek. sneaker that was inspired by Nike's. roshi run which was the shoe that had. come out at the time it was nicknamed. actually the roshi Killer Inside Adidas. and it had like a flat front not the. standard kind of rolled toad that you. see on a lot of running shoes it was. covered with this pattern fabric and you. know it wasn't well suited for for. running or sports but it went perfectly.

with the kind of athleisure fashion that. was coming into style as an artist and. in this world we can do whatever we want. and the plan is to debut this first. season of Yeezy at New York Fashion Week. and the moment finally. arrives the models come out and all this. apparel and these new shoes you know.

Kanye is in the front of the group in a. very sort of just a black hooded. sweatshirt and black pants and on his. feet are one of the new pairs of. [Music]. Yeezys and the front row is packed with. like a who's who of the most famous in. the world can I just ask what you. thought of the show I thought it was. beautiful very Innovative I love fyon. Jay-Z There's Rihanna there's a cluster. of.

Kardashians it's exactly what Adidas and. Kanye had hoped for I'm not even focused. on problems that's how I change. them we just focus on beauty fabric. proportion and trying to get the price. where the kids can get a hold of. it and then you know released in limited. runs over the next few months the shoes.

sold out in hours like crashed servers. we want to see the shoes drum roll. please they hooked sneaker heads. fashionistas things they look good with. shorts they look good with jeans they. look good with those pants with the Z. and even sports figures who had. endorsement deals with rival companies. are buying these yeah it was uh. tremendously tremendously successful so. this Kanye West Adidas deal is working.

out very nicely I'm curious Megan did. your reporting uncover any other. additional troubling behaviors by Kanye. West within this collaboration he was. having with the company yes my reporting. found that in fact this was a very. tumultuous time inside this partnership. behind the scenes Kanye West actually in. preparing as they were running up. against the deadline for the launch of. Yeezy season 1 New York Fashion Week.

erupted in Anger at the staff and used. extremely sexually explicit offensive. language and it was so bad that several. members of the team actually complained. to hups at Adidas about it and those. type of explosions in Anger would prove. to be quite common but none of this. behavior and not even the complaints. slows things down the attention quickly. shifts back to the success of these. sneakers in fact you know each year.

everybody in the industry gathers for. what is known as basically the shoe. Oscars and that year we're honored to. present him the 2015 Footwear news shoe. of the Year award for the Adidas ye 350. one shoe of the Year basically the Oscar. for best best new. [Music]. shoe and a beaming Kanye takes to the. stage with three Adidas Executives. behind him and so it's cool to be up.

here with the three people that ask. scream at the most in the past. year and it's actually kind of telling. because the first thing that Kanye says. is it's nice to be up here with through. of the people that I've yelled at the. most in the last year but you know his. tone shifting he later says quite. seriously there was one executive John. Wexler who had helped make the deal. happen oh I have to point out because.

I'm GNA have to talk about how John. basically saved my. life uh John. Wexler and Kanye says in what appears to. be like a very serious tone you know. John basically saved my life they. allowed me to be me they allowed me to. express myself but it's very serious. we're here to make amazing product that. we love that also. sells that makes money. [Applause].

so on a personal level this is very. meaningful to Kanye this person who as. you said earlier had wanted so very much. to be taken seriously in the fashion. world yeah absolutely and the success is. also very meaningful to Adidas I mean. they've been in business now for less. than two years and already the company. is thinking how can we take this deal.

even further how can we go all in on. Kanye. [Music]. West we'll be right. back so what is going all in with Kanye. West look like for Adidas so it means. we're now in 2016. and even though the first contract is.

not up for Renewal yet they're pouncing. on the chance to do a new contract a new. deal to make it even longer to make it. longer to set themselves up to make even. more money but significantly this time. around the company wants to insert a. mechanism into the deal that's going to. allow the company to protect itself. right Adidas has seen some very. problematic Behavior behind the scenes. certainly enough to make them want to. protect themselves so what are they.

discussing exactly how are they. envisioning doing that so Adidas is. pushing for something known as a morals. Clause to go into the contract that. would basically outline the situations. under which it could terminate the deal. with Kanye basically spelling out. certain behaviors certain lines that if. Kanye crosses them it can have the legal. right to say okay this deal is over. right the kind of moral boundaries under. which things would end yes and talking. to people Executives who have worked at.

big companies that do these kind of. deals they have stressed that they're. really important because you know yes. the company has to serve its bottom line. and enter into deals that are going to. be lucrative but it also has to protect. its reputation and if it's getting into. business with somebody who has. problematic Behavior especially. perspectives or attitudes that could be. easily discoverable then the company. runs the risk of looking complicit when. that all spills into public view right.

basically whether or not it's explicit. endorsing it yeah exactly and so after. months of negotiations Adidas and Kanye. West finally reach a deal and Kanye. actually agrees to the morals clause and. it has some pretty specific and strident. terms for termination a felony. conviction bankruptsy 30 consecutive. days of mental health or substance abuse. treatment or anything that brings. disrepute contempt Scandal to him or.

tarnishes Adidas pretty broad language. especially given some of the behavior. that Kanye West displays absolutely but. it's also important to know that while. Adidas is getting this moral Clause. Kanye West is also getting a lot in this. contract as well it's loaded with. financial incentives for him you know. during the negotiations Adidas was. predicting that Yeezy sales would grow. to $1 billion a year by 2021 and under.

this deal he will continue to get a 15%. royalty of net sales I just want to. pause because that is a lot of money. 15% of a billion dollars right and on. top of that he will also get 15 million. dollars upfront along with millions of. dollars in Company stock each year so. this is what going Allin with Kanye West. looks like for Adidas it means getting a. morals Clause from their partner. for Kanye it means a boatload of money.

yes and you know I forgot to mention. that one of the most significant parts. of the contract is that if they met. certain Financial targets it could. extend for a full decade wow and you. know as Kanye said when he signed the. new contract in May of. 2016 the partnership was now a. marriage so once Adidas and Kanye are. Newly Weds what. happens a lot.

happens just a few months after signing. that contract he was on tour for the. first time in several. years and he was at first wowing. audiences with this floating. [Applause]. stage but then his shows take this. really unexpected turn you ain't got an. OP on don't put it up on the.

original he's performing a show in. Sacramento and he's a couple songs into. his. set hey hey stop stop stop stop stop it. and he just stops and launches into this. 17-minute TI raade this is the way of. thinking to make America great. again he's praising president-elect. Donald Trump. you was lied to by Google you was lied.

to by Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg. you want to call me now he is blasting. the tech and media and music. Industries I was. hurt he is bad mouthing Beyonce J I know. you got Killers please don't sit them. out my head just call me and insinuating. that Jay-Z is going to send Killers for. him get ready to have a field day press.

and then he just the show's over drops. the. mic and walks off stage end of concert. end of concert and he actually cancels. his remaining shows and you know it's. clear that something's wrong and that. becomes even more evident the next. day so what I was able to uncover. through my reporting is that once he was. back in Los Ang Angeles he was. displaying behavior in front of friends.

and colleagues that was extremely. concerning he was writing Bible verses. and drawing spaceships on sheets with a. sharpie he appeared consumed with. paranoid thoughts like the belief that. government agents were out to get him. and when one of his friends suggested. that he take him to a nearby Office that. the friend owned Kanye emerged with bags. suitcases packed with. pots and pans and tupperware when they.

get to the office his behavior continued. to escalate he was at one point he threw. a bottle through a nearby window and two. doctors including a psychiatrist from. UCLA Medical Center are among those. called to the scenes uh you you're his. doctor sir is that correct yes correct. okay so and after observing his behavior. one of the doctors calls 911 I think he. definitely is going to need to be. hospitalized so I wouldn't just do the. police by itself I and this doctor says.

I think he's going to need to be. hospitalized let him get any any weapons. or anything like that if anything change. if he does become physically combative. between now9 when the police and or. paramedics get their calls back. immediately at 911 he's deeply unwell in. this moment so it would seem okay thank. you. [Music]. bye so what happens to Kanye during and. after this time in the hospital so after. the hospital Iz ation he goes on. medication for bipolar disorder which is.

something that he's talked about. publicly at times he has called it his. superpower at other times he has claimed. that he was misdiagnosed um and he. doesn't have the disorder at all but by. 2018 he has gone off the medication and. he is starting to re-enter the public. Spotlight in ways that many find. confusing welcome to TMZ live Harvey L. here Charles here we have including an. impromptu interview that he gives to TMZ.

you know um in which he claims that when. you hear about slavery for 400 years for. 400 years that sound like a choice 400. years of slavery sounds like a choice. and that causes like a total uproar. Megan candidly this sounds like an. incredibly difficult time for Kanye and. for his family but it also seems like. exactly the scenario that this morals. Clause you were telling us Adidas wanted.

so badly is designed to anticipate and. react to so was there any discussion. inside of Adidas during this period. about invoking that Clause well we know. for sure that they didn't invoke it and. it's not clear whether they even. considered it whether they even. discussed it instead you mentioned that. you attribute a large part of the. success to some of your creators is. anyone more important to you in terms of. your creators than Kanye West I think.

Kanye along with others you know. farewell the CEO of Vegeta's on a live. TV appearance on CNBC that'ss the. slavery commment away clearly Kanye has. helped us also saying that Kanye has. helped us have a great comeback in the. United States so I always have to ask. you about the latest Kanye West drama. because there always and he maintains. that position months later you know when. you sign up a very I would say. inspirational and creative person you. don't get m stream and you got to live. with what you got and so far we've had a.

good relationship with him if you so the. company was very adamant I mean it stood. by Kanye West after the slavery comment. and it also stood by him as he displayed. a troubling fixation on Jews and Hitler. beyond what he had previously done yes I. mean I mentioned earlier this swastika. incident at the very beginning of their. partnership since then he had gone on to. tell Adidas's collaborators that he. believed that Jewish people had special.

powers that allowed them to amass money. and influence he also had expressed an. admiration for Hitler that he saw him as. a master marketer somebody who had a. real gift for propaganda that he admired. you know at this time he told Adidas. folks that he was considering naming an. upcoming album Hitler it was ultimately. named yay and it's around this time that. he also tells a Adidas executive who is.

Jewish that he should hang a picture of. Hitler in his kitchen and kiss it every. morning to practice unconditional love. that's frankly kind of hard to hear it's. offensive and you're saying Adidas this. German based company with a huge level. of sensitivity to the meaning and the. power and the risk of anti-Semitism does. nothing about any of this yeah the.

company at least what I found in my. reporting is that the company does not. appear interested in scrutinizing or. policing Kanye's Behavior instead they. are scrambling to adjust to it and to. somehow accommodate it and how do you. adjust an accommodate Behavior like this. though well listen the Yeezy unit the. team with inside Adidas that that worked. on the collaboration I mean a lot of. those people were fans of Kanye West but. still it took like a huge emotional toll. they adopted a strategy that they like. into firefighting rotating people on and.

off the front lines to elimin exposure. to harm the unit was assigned a special. Human Resources official to help manage. the drama when you joined the team the. company gave you a free subscription to. a meditation app to acknowledge how. challenging it could be and so that was. what was happening on the group on the. front lines and then behind the scenes. some of the top Executives of the. company started a group text chain. called the easy Hotline in which they.

scrambled to field Kanye's requests and. deal with the kind of constant. challenges that arose Adidas is doing. whatever it has to do to manage this. Brewing problem no matter how much it. seems to upset the people on staff to. make sure that this partnership. continues Yeah by and large they are. very eager to keep this on track and are. doing everything possible to make that. happen in fact at this point Kanye has. moved the Yeezy operation to remote Cody.

Wyoming insisting that everybody has to. follow him there or face termination so. they agree that they're going to help. him build up this campus out there and. they're also going to follow through on. giving him 100 million more dollars each. year wow that he can spend with little. oversight so the more and more volatile. unpredictable extremely offensive that. Kanye West becomes the more money Adidas. is throwing at him and the deeper they.

seem to enter this marriage yes and. because of this collaboration Kanye West. ultimately becomes a billionaire he's. making so much more money from this than. through his music good morning D good. morning D and he launches into more and. more wildly ambitious projects I want my. kids to go to d d Academy is a private.

school he created named after his late. Mother D West he starts an unaccredited. Christian School which has since closed. and is now under investigation what is. America's Destiny what is best for our. nation our people you know he runs for. president in 2020 in Liberia I I. Envision building a city of the future. an infinite City and Beyond that he. starts talking about plans to create.

flying cars and build futuristic. communities I mean he's using language. like I'm going to solve The World's. problems one at a time and as he's. scaling up these goals and these. Ambitions he has this huge financial. engine behind him Adidas. Adidas so we know where this story ends. because that's where we began this all. blows up what does that blowup look like. from inside Adidas so let's fast forward.

to September of last year September of. 20122 the Adidas and Kanye West. partnership has become strained H. Kanye's main complaint is that listen. under the contract Adidas owned the. designs the shoe designs that they made. together but he said that they were. misusing and kind of misappropriating. those designs and he was crying theft at. that point over the weekend ye posted on. his Instagram account taking aim at.

Adidas board members he goes on social. media and takes shots at the CEO and. members of the supervisory board last. night Swiss beats. Instagram he gets high-profile friends. like Diddy and swiss beats to threaten. to boycott the. company and it reaches this pretty. remarkable moment when he actually shows. up to the Adidas office in Los Angeles. with a videographer in tow and he's. meeting with some of the top Adidas.

Executives at that time and he is making. his demands and he's actually ambushes. them with pornography um again again. he's showing this porn film about a. woman wronged by her cheating boyfriend. to emphasize his feelings of betrayal in. the relationship and in the same meeting. he's you know making other complaints. and and issuing threats at at one point. point he says our army is so prepared.

this is a different level of nuclear. activity that no one will recover from. [Music]. o and listen that's what we he was doing. in these communications and his. relationship with Adidas what happens in. the next weeks is his other public. Behavior escalates as well beyond Adidas. So within weeks he has shown up to New. York Fashion Week and worn along with. the conservative commentator Candice.

Owens these white lives Matter t-shirts. and when that Sparks a backlash he kind. of goes on the offensive and basically. starts in interviews and on social media. making anti-semitic comments calling. black lives matter a scam he ends up. going on the drink Champs podcast and. doubling down on everything he said and. even going one step further the thing. about me and Adidas is like I could.

literally say anti-semitic and they. can't drop me he says in this interview. I can say anti-semitic stuff and Adidas. can't drop me wow I could say. anti-semitic things and Adidas can't. drop me now what he's basically saying. in this marriage I hold so many of the. cards that I can make Adidas stay with. me I can kind of make them complicit. yeah and of course in the moment that. sounds like shocking to listeners of. that interview but now having reported.

behind the scenes you can get a sense of. how he could actually say that and and. why it might be true right at least from. his perspective and his experience over. those many years of the partnership but. you know at this point he is coming. under even more Broad and intense attack. and criticism politicians Jewish leaders. fellow entertainers people like leaders. in Hollywood are denouncing his behavior. and saying that it's dangerous and is. going to inspire others to embrace.

bigotry and are really exerting pressure. on Adidas to cut ties and so just days. after that drink Champs interview in. which he was basically taunting Adidas. to try to cut ties with him the company. does just that they tell Kanye that he. has violated the terms of their contract. and that they have the legal right to. now end it h well given just how. important this partnership has has been. to both sides it's floating Kanye it's.

the bulk of his money you've told us and. for Adidas it's been their. Revival what happens once this deal is. off so Adidas immediately stops selling. Yeezys and both parties take a huge hit. the company projected its first annual. loss in decades and Kanye West net worth. plummets H and so the cost of this over. Alliance this Mutual dependence that had.

become so great in this moment is very. clearly laid bare absolutely and it's. not over how is it not over I mean it's. supposed to be Aida says over so even as. they're publicly attacking each other. Kanye West and Adidas continue to have a. shared interest and that is in the 1.3. billion dollars of Yeezy inventory that. are in warehouses around the world and. that had been basically just shelv after. the agreement came to an end fascinating.

and by May of last year Adidas's now has. a new CEO and he comes out and announces. that they're going to actually release. all of that inventory for sale huh even. as they're divorcing they're still. relying on each other yeah they're not. missing an opportunity to make at least. one more round of serious money and a. cut of those sales would go to the. Anti-Defamation League and a group.

founded by George Floyd's family but. most of the money is going to Adidas and. under the contract Kanye West is still. entitled to royalties of those sales and. so the shoes ended up taking in about. $437 million in sales through June just. these first waves and they're not done. with those sales and so with this influx. of of of easy money the company has been. able to improve its Financial forecast. for the year and Kanye West has.

reappeared you know he performed on. stage for the first time over the summer. and music from what is rumored to be a. comeback album has leaked online H so in. the end despite everything he did he's. still profiting from this partnership. and so as Adidas even as it can go out. in the world and say we canceled this. deal we're done with it we not. affiliated with him anymore right and. and I think what we were also able to.

see was that consumers by and large were. not deterred by what happened last fall. and the way that these shoes started to. sell out again so quickly also showed. that many people just didn't care about. Kanye West's behavior and there even. starts to be some speculation that. Adidas and Kanye West may actually go. into another deal again but you know. when I reached out to Adidas to present. what I had found through my reporting as. we prepared to publish our story they.

provided me with a statement saying that. Adidas has no tolerance for hate speech. and offensive Behavior which is why the. company terminated the Adidas easy. partnership the company you know turned. down interview requests and citing. confidentiality rules declined to. comment on financial aspects of the. collaboration and its relationship with. Kanye West and Kanye West declined. interview requests and did not respond. to written questions or provide comments.

Megan zooming way out for a second there. seem to be two ways to think about the. story you have just told us on one level. the story you found here about Adidas. and Kanye is really the story it seems. of a company doing whatever it had to do. to appease a troubled partner instead of. holding Kanye accountable for his. behaviors Adidas just kept throwing more. and more money at him even as the things. he was saying we're getting more and. more offensive and the company did not.

seem all that interested in blunting the. impact on the people that Kanye was. offending either inside or outside of. the company but on another level it. seems to be the story of a company. getting exactly what it bargained for. right a provocative celebrity this mad. genius who was going to Garner a ton of. attention some good some bad that was. going to turn into profit and that's. what happened Adidas got the attention. it got the profit so what are we.

supposed to make of all that well I. think that you're right that this really. is a classic tale of a company that made. this fraught bargain in pursuit of. celebrity and profit and Adidas tapped. into that and capitalized on that this. Yeezy collaboration made more money and. became more culturally influential than. I think either party certainly Adidas. imagined when they first started the. relationship and I remember talking to a.

source who had worked at Adidas and had. been closely involved in the. collaboration who described it like a. company becoming hooked on a bad drug. and they just got deeper and deeper and. more and more hooked and didn't know how. to break away and so by the time this. relationship came to an end by the time. Adidas was backed into a corner and had. to end it you know you were able to see. how completely dependent they they had. become on that drug that was Kanye West. on that drug that was Kanye West and by.

that point it was too late they had. become overly dependent on him so you. know they're now scrambling to recover. and it's not clear to what extent. they'll be able to recover there's only. one Kanye West and you can't really. replicate what the collaboration with. him brought to Adidas but you also can't. really calculate the damage that the. collaboration did to Adidas in the.

process well Megan thank you very much. oh thanks so much for having. [Music]. me on Wednesday a few days after the. publication of Megan's investigation the. CEO of Adidas Bjorn golden raised the. possibility that the company may never. release the remaining stock of unsold. easy shoes a decision that he said could.

cost Adidas about. $320. [Music]. million we'll be right. [Music]. back here's what else you need to know. today on Thursday under intense pressure.

from the US Israel agreed to establish. daily 4-Hour pauses in its assault on. Hamas in selected areas of Northern Gaza. in order to allow civilians there to. flee the fighting but Israel emphasized. that the pauses were not the same as a. ceasefire and that they would have no. influence on its broader operation to. destroy destroy Hamas in response to the. group's October 7th attack on Israeli.

civilians and I believe in my heart of. hearts that I have accomplished what I. set out to do for West Virginia I made. one of the toughest decisions of my life. and decided that I will not be running. for reelection to the United States. Senate Senator Joe Mansion of West. Virginia a moderate Democrat known for. challenging his party's liberal Wing. said he would not seek reelection in. 2024 in a major blow to his party's hope.

of keeping control of the Senate next. year Democrats currently control just 51. votes in the Senate and without mansion. on the ballot in West Virginia. Republicans stand a far better chance of. winning his. seat West Virginia's Republican Governor. Jim Justice is already the front runner. in the race for mansion. seed. today's episode was produced by Claire. tennis and Shannon Lynn with help from.

Ricky nety it was edited by Michael. benois with help from Brendan kinken BG. and Ben Calhoun contained a original. music by Dan Powell and Chelsea Daniels. and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley our. theme music is by Jim runberg and Ben. laner of. Wonderland. [Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Michael.

Babar see you on. [Music]. Monday.