Balenciaga ends business relationship with Kanye West
Kanye West's public turmoil continued Friday, when Business of Fashion reported that "Balenciaga has officially ended its relationship with Ye, [formerly known as Kanye West]."
The luxury fashion brand made the decision after "his controversial appearance on the podcast Drink Champs released last week, where he falsely claimed that George Floyd wasn't murdered but killed by fentanyl and made even more antisemitic remarks," Rolling Stone notes.
BoF says Kering, Balenciaga's parent company, also didn't have "any plans for future projects related to this artist."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The rapper's latest controversy began brewing after he wore a "White Lives Matter" t-shirt, drawing criticism from other notable people in the fashion industry including Tremaine Emory, creative director for Supreme — whom Ye also made a dig at during a separate incident, the Daily Mail notes.
Separately, his recent antisemitic tweets got him booted from Twitter and Instagram. West soon entered an agreement to buy Parler, the social media platform used by conservatives and especially supporters of former President Donald Trump as an alternative to 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.
This isn't the rapper's only business relationship that has ended recently. According to BoF, Gap also abruptly ended its partnership with him back in September.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelsee Majette has worked as a social media editor at The Week since 2022. In 2019, she got her start in local television as a digital producer and fill-in weather reporter at NTV News. Kelsee also co-produced a lifestyle talk show while working in Nebraska and later transitioned to 13News Now as a digital content producer.
-
White House says admiral ordered potential war crimeSpeed Read The Trump administration claims Navy Vice Adm. Frank ‘Mitch’ Bradley ordered a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat, not Pete Hegseth
-
Political cartoons for December 2Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include advent chocolates, Ali MAGA, and more
-
Stranger Things, series five: ‘grander and gorier’ than everThe Week Recommends The Duffer Brothers’ hit show returns for its ‘thrilling’ final season
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
