Entertainment- Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden appeared to defend Kanye West, saying the rapper was misunderstood.
- In a recent podcast episode, Gulden said he felt West didn't actually mean his antisemitic comments.
Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said he thinks Kanye West didn't really mean his anti-Semitic comments last year.
Speaking a September 12 episode of the podcast "In Good Company" published, Gulden reflected on the termination of West's Yeezy endorsement deal with Adidas, saying the rapper's scandal was "very sad."
Gulden credited West, who has changed his name to Ye, with being "one of the most creative people in the world" in music and pop culture.
"As creative people, you know, he did some statements which wasn't that good and that caused Adi to break the contract and withdraw the product," Gulden said.
"Very unfortunate, because I don't think he meant what he said, and I don't think he's a bad person. It just came across that way," Gulden continued.
"And that meant we lost that business, you know, one of the most successful collabs in history. Very sad," he said.
Gulden said West's anti-Semitic statements and the resulting backlash were part of the risk the company takes on with working with big-name celebrities or athletes.
"When you work with third parties that could happen, it's part of the game. That can happen with an athlete, it can happen with an entertainer, so it's part of the business," Gulden said.
Adidas named Gulden as CEO on November 8 — weeks after it cut ties with West in October.
West faced widespread backlash that month after he made several anti-Semitic comments, tweeting that he was "going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE."
He then said it was impossible for him to be antisemitic because "black people are actually Jew."
Amid calls for companies to drop endorsement deals with West, Adidas, Gap, Balenciaga, and Vogue ended their business relationships with the rapper.
He later claimed on Instagram that he lost $2 billion in one day but was "STILL ALIVE."
Forbes valued Ye's deal with Adidas, who he'd partnered with to sell his sneaker brand Yeezy, at around $1.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Adidas was left with $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezy sneakers, and estimated in July that the leftover inventory would create an operating loss of around $499 million.
Adidas did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.