(Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for ADIDAS)
In a viral LinkedIn post on Monday, Sarah Camhi, director of trade marketing at Adidas, called out her employer for staying silent after Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), who had a long-term lucrative relationship with the sneaker and apparel maker, publicly spewed antisemitic hate.
Camhi, who identified herself as a “member of the Jewish community,” wrote that following the multinational sportswear brand’s global week of inclusion, she felt, “anything but included.” The Adidas marketing executive said on the work and career-related platform that she could “no longer stay silent on behalf of the brand that employs me” and “not saying anything is saying everything.” Camhi lamented that the company dragged its feet for 14 days without taking action.
Ye Goes “Death Con 3”
The Anti-Defamation League reported that Ye continued to amplify conspiracy theories and antisemitic tropes. The organization pointed to an interview on Revolt TV’s “Drink Champs,” where he lashed out at the “Jewish media '' and “Jewish Zionists,” making all sorts of specious and derogatory comments.
Ye made accusations about the Jewish “mafia” controlling the music and media industries during an interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation. His defense was that Black people cannot be antisemitic, stating, “We are Semite. We Jew, so I can’t be antisemite.”
You Can Make A Difference
Camhi stated in her LinkedIn post, “We need to do better as a brand. We need to do better for our employees and we need to do better for our communities. Until Adidas takes a stand, I will not stand with Adidas.”
The harmful antisemitic remarks raise issues of how corporate leadership manages employees who are huge moneymakers, and what employees can do to assert themselves when they feel their company is heading in a bad direction.
The roughly 25,000 comments and endorsements showed that the overwhelming majority of people supported Camhi in her fight against antisemitism. A few people questioned why she didn’t promptly quit. The responses supported her decision to stay, fight and make a difference in the organization.
It seemed to have worked. One day after the viral post, Adidas terminated Ye’s relationship with the company, stating, “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
The Ending of Lucrative And Tumultuous Relationship
At first, the sportswear apparel company announced that Ye’s relationship with the organization was “under review,” despite the rapper bragging, “I can literally say antisemitic s— and they cannot drop me.” The company stayed silent when its star designer and big revenue generator said in a tweet that he planned to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” The silence was deafening, especially because the founding German brothers of the sneaker empire formerly joined the Nazi Party, according to journalist Barbara Smit’s book, Sneaker Wars, a history of Adidas.
According to Forbes, the Adidas deal accounted for $1.5 billion of Ye’s net worth. Without it, he is worth $400 million. Other fashion houses, celebrities and companies took swift action to show their disdain against Ye’s comments. Both Balenciaga and Vogue said they wouldn’t be collaborating with him any longer. His Hollywood talent agency, CAA, dropped him. Following Adidas severing ties, Gap announced that it would pull Yeezy products from its stores and website.
