Adidas director of trade marketing Sarah Camhi has called out Adidas for staying still being partnered with Kanye West despite his recent string of anti-Semitic comments.
On October 7th Kanye shared a screenshot of a conversation between himself and P Diddy on Instagram.. “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me. I told you this was war,” he wrote.
Shortly after, the rapper was banned from Instagram. He then took to Twitter to make more anti-Semitic comments in a now-deleted tweet. Kanye wrote: “When I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
It’s inferred that West was referencing DEFCON 3, which is an alert used in the US military that means “increase in force readiness above normal readiness” and is regularly used to signal a serious threat.
While many big brands, including Balenciaga, have dropped Kanye in light of his remarks, Adidas has remained silent, and as far as the public known, is still partnered with him. Adidas director of trade marketing Sarah Camhi – who is a member of the Jewish community – has called out the brand for not taking a stance.
“Coming off of the adidas global week of inclusion, I am feeling anything but included,” Sarah began in a statement posted to LinkedIn.
“As a member of the Jewish community, I can no longer stay silent on behalf of the brand that employs me. Not saying anything, is saying everything.
Love Hip Hop?
Get the latest Hip Hop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“It’s been 14 days since Kanye started spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric and adidas has remained quiet; both internally to employees as well as externally to our customers.
“We have dropped adidas athletes for using steroids and being difficult to work with but are unwilling to denounce hate speech, the perpetuation of dangerous stereotypes and blatant racism by one of our top brand partners.
“We need to do better as a brand. We need to do better for our employees and we need to do better for our communities. Until adidas takes a stand, I will not stand with adidas,” she concluded.
For more on this topic, follow the Hip Hop Observer.
