Kanye West turned away by Skechers after showing up ‘unannounced’ and ‘uninvited’

The outspoken rapper was “escorted” from the headquarters of a top US footwear brand just days after being dumped by Adidas.

Skechers was forced to “escort” Kanye West from their corporate office in Los Angeles after he showed up “unannounced” and “uninvited”.

The US rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye, has recently lost deals with brands such as Balenciaga and Adidas over racist and anti-Semitic statements.

The footwear brand released a statement following the incident, in which West was ushered out of the office by two executives.

“Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West,” the sneaker brand said.

“We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech.

“The Company would like to again stress that West showed up unannounced and uninvited to Skechers corporate offices.”

Skechers’ comments came as West was dropped by Adidas in a move costing $390 million.

The sports brand announced on Tuesday that they were cutting ties with the rapper over his “harmful” and ”dangerous” comments.

Kanye West has been dropped by Adidas after making a string of antisemitic slurs.

Earlier this week, clothing giant Adidas cut ties with West.

Adidas’ Yeezy brand collaboration with West was put under review, after he showed a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt design at Paris Fashion Week.

Days later, the rapper posted anti-Semitic comments on his Twitter account.

The sports brand announced on Tuesday that they were cutting ties with the rapper over his “harmful” and “dangerous” comments.

Kanye West has been dropped by major sportswear label Adidas. Picture: AFP

Over the past few weeks, West has been blasting Adidas and accusing the brand of copying his ideas, mismanaging the firm, and taunting their Chief Executive Officer Kasper Rorsted.

The company revealed it was ending its €250 million ($A390 million) collaboration with Ye.

“Adidas does not tolerate anti-semitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement.

“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.

“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”

“This is expected to have a short-term negative impact of up to €250 million on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter.”

Adidas has joined companies like Gap and Balenciaga in prematurely cutting ties with the mogul.

MADAME TUSSAUD’S ‘ARCHIVES’ WEST’S WAX FIGURE

Kanye West’s wax figure has been removed from public view at Madame Tussauds after a number of brands cut ties with the rapper over his racist comments.

Staff at the museum in London confirmed they removed the rapper’s figure, who has changed his name to Ye, and “put it in an archive” following his vile remarks.

“Ye’s figure has been retired from the attraction floor to our archive,” a spokesperson for Madame Tussaud’s said.

“Each profile earns their place at Madame Tussauds London and we listen to our guests and the public on who they expect to see at the attraction.”

West’s figurine was originally launched in the museum in 2015 alongside a wax work of his then wife Kim Kardashian.

WEST ISSUES APOLOGY

West sensationally apologised for comments he said were racist against Jewish people in an attempt to “fight fire with fire”.

The rapper and soon-to-be owner of social media network Parler relented under questioning during a, explosive, two-hour interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, eventually apologising for promising to go “death con 3 on Jewish people”.

“I will say I’m sorry for the people that I hurt with the death con,” West said.

“I feel like I caused hurt and confusion, and I’m sorry for the families of the people who had nothing to do with the trauma that I had been through, and that I used my platform, where you say hurt people hurt people, and I was hurt.”

Kanye West apologised after a two-hour grilling from Piers Morgan.

West was kicked off Twitter for the comments, leading to his plans to purchase social network competitor Parler.

In clips of Morgan’s wide-ranging interview with West, the Uncensored host prodded the rapper that he should regret the comments.

“That is as racist as anything you say you’ve been through, and any pain you’ve experienced, it’s the same thing, racism is racism, and you know that I think, don’t you?” Morgan asks.

After refusing to apologise and grinning through Morgan’s questioning at first, West suddenly appears to consider the accusation and agree that his comments were, in fact, racist.

“Yeah obviously, that’s why I said it,” West said, calling his own comments racist. “Yes, I fought fire with fire. I’m not here to get hosed down. It’s a different type of freedom fighter.”

The apology came after two hours of intense questioning, in which Ye accused Morgan of being a “Karen” and challenged him to who has earned more in their careers.

“It’s wrong to hold an apology hostage and I gotta let go of that and free myself of the trauma,” West said.

“And say I’m just going to give it all up to God right now and say to those families that I have hurt, I just want to give you a big hug. I say I am sorry for hurting you in my comments. I want to word it, and not in a political way but in a presidential way, which is what I knew a president to be when I was growing up.”

FLOYD’S FAMILY TO SUE WEST

The family of George Floyd is planning to sue Kanye West and his associates for $US250 million ($396 million) in damages over the rapper’s comments made on a podcast about the circumstances of his death.

Floyd’s former partner and her daughter Gianna, who was six years old at the time of his death in 2020, accuse West his business partners, and associates of harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.

According to a statement, Floyd’s family issued a cease-and-desist letter to West — who has now legally changed his name to Ye — over his comments on the since deleted episode of podcast Drink Champs.

NEW: Lawyers for George Floyd daughter plan to file $250M lawsuit vs. Kanye West. "Kanye's comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd's life & to profit from his inhumane death. We will hold Mr. West accountable for his flagrant remarks against Mr. Floyd's legacy." pic.twitter.com/w56rTtCKtu

— Matt Sullivan (@sullduggery) October 18, 2022

During the appearance, the rapper falsely claimed that Floyd wasn’t murdered by former police officer Derek Chauvin but that he died of a fentanyl overdose.

“They hit him with the fentanyl, if you look the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that,” West said on the podcast.

Civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt responded to West’s claims on behalf of Floyd’s family.

“While one cannot defame the dead, the family of #GeorgeFloyd is considering suit for Kanye’s false statements about the manner of his death,” he tweeted on 16 October.

“Claiming Floyd died from fentanyl not the brutality established criminally and civilly undermines and diminishes the Floyd family’s fight.”

Lee Merritt — another lawyer who has worked with Floyd’s family but is not involved in this planned lawsuit — told Rolling Stone that the nearly $1 billion judgment that Sandy Hook parents won against Alex Jones for spreading conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting could offer a road map for legal recourse.
It comes as West is set to purchase the rising social media network Parler after he was booted from Silicon Valley tech giants Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Kanye West and Tesla founder Elon Musk. Picture: Instagram

The rapper, fashion designer and US presidential candidate announced he would acquire the platform from Parlement Technologies just days after he was suspended from Twitter.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” West said in a statement released by Parler.

West was removed from Twitter after posting that he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” which violated the platform’s policies on hate speech.

Twitter’s potential future owner, Elon Musk, said he talked to West and expressed his “concerns” about the tweet.

“Which I think he took to heart,” Musk said.

In addition to taking it to heat, West appears to have taken a cue from Musk, as well as Donald Trump, who created his own platform, Truth Social, after being kicked off Twitter.

While the terms or value of the deal have not been disclosed, it is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2022. The company is based in Nashville, and has raised about USD $56 million in funding before West’s planned purchase.

Parler’s executive director George Farmer said West’s acquisition of the so-called uncancellable platform will “change the way the world thinks about free speech.”

“Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again,” Farmer said in a statement.

Kanye West and Candace Owens attend the "The Greatest Lie Ever Sold" Premiere Screening in Nashville, Tennessee. Picture: Getty Images

“Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative. Parlement will be honoured to help him achieve his goals,” Farmer added.

Launched in 2018, Parler rose to prominence after it was pulled from the Apple and Google app stores, and Amazon Web Services, following its explosive growth during the 2020 presidential election.

The Silicon Valley tech giants alleged the platform was used to organise the US Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021.

The company, which describes itself as a guiding force in the fight against Big Tech, Big Government, censorship, and cancel culture, was allowed back on the Apple app store a few months later, but not back onto the Google marketplace until September 2022.

Originally published as Kanye West turned away by Skechers after showing up ‘unannounced’ and ‘uninvited’