Adidas ended its relationship with Hitler admirer Kanye West last year, but that wasn't soon enough for Adidas' investors, who filed a lawsuit against the shoemaker for continuing to do business with West (now known as Ye) for years after it had become clear he was an outspoken antisemite. Adidas is already saddled with hundreds of millions in unsold Yeezy inventory, so the lawsuit couldn't have come at a worse time.
From BBC
Last October, when the company ended the collaboration, it said: "Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.
"Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."
However, investors who filed the lawsuit in the US against the company on Friday claim that Adidas knew about other questionable behaviour by West, alleging that it was discussed by former chief executive Kasper Rorsted as well as other management.
The Wall Street Journal published details of an alleged meeting in 2018 where Adidas discussed West.
The report claimed that senior executives spoke about how to mitigate the risk of staff interacting with him as well the company possibly cutting ties with the rapper.
A spokesperson for Adidas told BBC, "We outright reject these unfounded claims and will take all necessary measures to vigorously defend ourselves against them,"
