LOS ANGELES – Kanye West was “escorted” by two executives out of the Skechers corporate offices after the American rapper showed up uninvited, the American shoe company said in a statement on Wednesday.
West – known formally as Ye – has made headlines in recent weeks for racist and anti-Semitic statements that have cost him several lucrative fashion collaborations.
The 45-year-old arrived “unannounced and without invitation” at the Los Angeles offices, Skechers said, adding that he was “engaged in unauthorised filming”.
The hip-hop star appeared at a Paris fashion show in October wearing a shirt emblazoned with “White Lives Matter”, a slogan created as a backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Days later, he was locked out of Twitter and Instagram for threatening to “Go death con 3 on Jewish people”, using a reference to American military readiness.
“Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West,” said the company on Wednesday.
“We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech.”
It added: “Considering Ye was engaged in unauthorised filming, two Skechers executives escorted him and his party from the building after a brief conversation.”
Major brands such as Adidas and Kering fashion label Balenciaga have over the past week severed ties with West, whose business empire spans music to fashion.
Manhattan law firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is the latest agency to part ways with the rapper.
“We are not presently providing any representation and have no intention of providing any future representation,” said a Cadwalader spokesman via e-mail on Wednesday.
Mr Nicholas Gravante, a leader of the firm’s litigation group, and several other Cadwalader attorneys represented West last month in his move to terminate his partnership with Gap.
The lawyers sent a letter to Gap saying the retailer failed to release apparel and open stores, as stipulated in a contract, reported Bloomberg News.
Law firm Brown Rudnick, which represented Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in a high-profile defamation trial in 2022, is also no longer working for West, the firm confirmed on Wednesday, as first reported by the New York Post.
Meanwhile, the only two professional athletes signed to West’s Donda Sports will end their association with the agency.
Aaron Donald, a defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League, along with Jaylen Brown, who plays for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association, announced on Tuesday they would be leaving the management firm owned by West. AFP, BLOOMBERG
