Adidas CEO Doesn’t Think Kanye West is a “Bad Person” Despite Antisemitism

Last fall, after Kanye West went on a weeks-long antisemitic tirade, brand partnerships that he had with both Adidas and Gap quickly began to fall through. While he was going on talk shows praising Adolf Hitler and insinuating that people of the Jewish faith control media and the spread of information, West was also seeing his notable Yeezy clothing lines lose their support.

Taking up a huge chunk of Adidas’ profits, the Yeezy line’s removal from the brand’s catalog meant that the German-based sportswear company had to brace for their first annual loss of profit in 30 years. One of their solutions to mitigate this issue was to sell a portion of the remaining Yeezy shoes and apparel they had left in stock. After a successful sale in May, Adidas pocketed some of the money they made, while giving 15% of the profits to West and donating an unspecified amount to “organizations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanye’s statements.”

“The sale of the first part of the Yeezy inventory did of course help both our top and bottom line in the quarter,” Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said during their Q2 fiscal report. “The sale of the Yeezy product positively impacted Adidas’ operating profit by an incremental amount of around [$165] million in Q2.”

[RELATED: Kanye West Reportedly Preparing to Drop New Music]

Now, though, even though their business relationship ended in turmoil, Gulden still thinks a bit fondly of West. In an interview with Norges Bank Investment Management posted to YouTube on September 12, he explained his thoughts on the entire situation with the polarizing rapper, and why he doesn’t consider him a “bad person.”

“I think Kanye West is one of the most creative people in the world, both in music and what I would call street culture. He’s extremely creative,” Gulden said. “[He] made some statements which wasn’t that good/ That caused [Adidas] to break that contract and withdraw the product. 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.”

Additionally, Gulden insisted that their break-up with West wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary, as it is always a possibility to consider when signing endorsement deals.

“[This] meant we lost that business, one of the most successful collabs in history. Very sad,” he continued. “But again, when you work with third parties that can happen. It’s part of the game. That can happen with an athlete, with an entertainer. It’s part of the business.”

Watch Gulden’s full conversation with Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, below.

Photo by MEGA/GC Images