Kanye West is once again facing criticism after sharing a video of a meeting between him and four others – two of which are believed to be Adidas executives and the other two are believed to be part of Ye’s team. During the meeting, West appears to show a graphic video to make a point.
The meeting supposedly took place on September 16th – just one day after Ye terminated his partnership with Gap. The video was uploaded by Kanye West on October 10th as part of a 30-minute mini-film titled ‘Last Week,’ which gives insight into the artist’s business dealings.
In the video, West is seen holding up his phone so the other four attendees could see. He compared the male actor’s voice to one of the execs, who had a European accent. In the porn scene, a female actor tells the male actor “you are not going to hurt my feelings again.”
At one point, one of the men asks Ye, “Is this a porn movie?” and later says “Jesus Christ…” when it’s confirmed. Kanye then asks his videographer to get a closer shot and you can hear the same exec say, “Ah, come on, man.” It was clear from the start that they were uncomfortable.
Ye finally put his phone away when one of the execs pushed the phone away from view. West goes on to explain that he’ll only work with Adidas if a certain individual is appointed CEO. He says, “you guys have done wrong by the company, by the business, and by the partnership.”
West later explains that the whole idea behind showing the graphic video was to liken the male actor cheating on the female actor in the porn video to Adidas cheating on West by ‘ripping off his intellectual property.’ The video has resulted in widespread criticism against Kanye West.
West is lashing out at Adidas for allegedly stealing his designs and doing wrong by their partnership. And while that meeting was several weeks ago, Adidas has since put their partnership ‘under review’ after West’s ‘White Lives Matter’ fiasco at a fashion show last week.
Who Were the Other Men Meeting With Kanye West?
While the faces of the men in the video are blurred out, reports have alleged that it’s believed the four men in the meeting are Shervin Pishevar (right), Eric Liedtke (middle), Alasdhair Willis (middle), and Torben Schumacher (left). They’ve all worked closely with Kanye at some point.
Pishevar is one of Ye’s people – he’s a venture capitalist that doesn’t work for Adidas. In the video, he tells the other men, “When someone steals this man’s ideas, his creations, it’s like you’re stealing a child,” in an attempt to better convey West’s feelings and intentions.
Liedtke used to be Adidas’ brand president and was with the brand for more than two decades. He was clearly on Ye’s side and he’s also the one Ye wants to be appointed CEO. “It starts with somebody feeling very highly disrespected. And there’s grounds for that, in my opinion,” he said.
Willis, who seems to be in Ye’s good spirits as well, is married to Paul McCartney’s daughter and is the current chief creative officer for Adidas. At one point in the meeting, he tells Kanye, “We can certainly do a lot better in the way we work with you.”
And finally, we have Schumacher – the intended victim of the graphic video. He’s a senior vice president at Adidas, has been with the brand since 2004, and oversees the Yeezy line. He was clearly uncomfortable during the meeting, which is what Kanye’s intent was.
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Now that the Yeezy-Adidas partnership is under review, it’s growing increasingly likely that the two sides go in separate directions soon – though that has yet to be confirmed. Either way, Ye is ready. “Our army is so prepared,” said Kanye West. We should learn more in the coming weeks.
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