Kanye West, never one to shy away from public drama, has reignited tensions with Adidas months after their tumultuous partnership officially dissolved in October 2024. Despite a settlement that Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden described as leaving “no open issues” between the two parties, Ye’s latest Instagram post paints a different picture.
In his characteristically verbose and unfiltered style, Kanye accused Adidas of sabotaging his Yeezy brand’s visibility online. He noted that Adidas’ site appears before Yeezy.com in search results, claiming this as evidence of an effort to “hold [him] back.” He also made pointed references to past grievances, including frozen accounts and perceived corporate interference, while declaring, “Our partnership is done… I’m not going to stand for this.”
But Ye didn’t stop there. In a side note, he criticized Jerry Lorenzo, a fellow designer who recently signed with Adidas. Calling Lorenzo “corny and disloyal,” Kanye accused him of mimicking his Hollywood Bowl show while working with a company he feels betrayed him. The post underscores Kanye’s frustration and his refusal to let go of past slights, even as he positions himself as a resilient comeback story.
The feud is a stark reminder of the complexities of Ye’s relationship with Adidas. While their partnership brought massive financial success, it also became a lightning rod for controversy, fueled by Kanye’s unpredictable public behavior and Adidas’ efforts to manage the fallout. The October 2024 settlement may have legally severed their ties, but Ye’s post suggests the emotional wounds remain far from healed.
From a branding perspective, Ye’s accusations reveal a deeper concern: maintaining Yeezy’s dominance in a highly competitive landscape. With Jerry Lorenzo’s Fear of God Athletics joining Adidas and other brands vying for market share, Kanye appears determined to protect his legacy, even if it means calling out former collaborators and industry peers.
However, the post raises questions about Kanye’s approach. While his candidness is part of what makes him a cultural icon, it also risks alienating potential allies and partners. Calling Lorenzo “corny” and dredging up grievances with Adidas may resonate with his loyal fanbase but could make future collaborations more challenging.
In the end, Kanye’s latest rant is as much a reflection of his creative passion as it is of his combative nature. Whether this public outcry helps Yeezy regain its footing or further complicates its trajectory remains to be seen. One thing is clear: for Kanye West, the saga with Adidas is far from over, settlement or not.
read the full IG Post below
“When you google Yeezy.com the adidas site comes before the Yeezy site Members at adidas Stop doing this Stop doing your moves to hold me back Our partnership is done You’re a 60 billion dollar company that froze my accounts Now I’m back on my feet (no pun intended) and I’m not going to stand for this (no pun again) I did phenomenal work for you guys and because I stood up for myself yall tried to intimidate and oppress me everyone remembers I had major issues with adidas because of design theft and oppression before ‘the tweet’ side note yall know Jerry was corny and disloyal for doing work with adidas after the way they handled things I still showed up to his show that was a copy of my Hollywood bowl show being the so called bigger man but I’m never doing that again for no one It’s Yeezy over everything Everyone that ever took a picture next to me that had their own clothing lines and agendas everyone knows they was acting like they were my friends to promote they weak ass fake Yeezy lines They never wanted to truly work for the king They wanted to use the king Get paid more than they would get paid anywhere else be yes man and be happy for any time I didn’t accomplish what ‘we’ were working towards Now they banished NO MORE HUGS Yeezy over everything I’m not here as a platform for anyone else I am here to dominate as I always have The Yeezy $20 dollar price is burning the game to the ground leaving only Yeezy left Everyone knows the costs in luxury fashion are way marked up I should have never even wore those Prada glasses The Yeezy.com site made 100 million dollars last year and that was with it only being up for 6 months I took the site down for 6th months to get control over my Shopify accounts People wanted to make me believe that I couldn’t do this on my own We sold over a million pairs of pods and I’ve been working on ten other styles for the past 2 years It’s Yeezy for the people Everything else was in the way If there are grammatical errors as always rewrite in the comments and I will update Thank you.”
