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Kanye West Responds After Being Dropped by Balenciaga
Kanye West is not worried about being canceled.
On Friday, Balenciaga announced that it was ending its relationship with Ye in the wake of his many controversies, including his anti-Semitic remarks and “White Lives Matter” shirt.
“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” Kering, the parent company for the French fashion house, said in a statement to Women’s Wear Daily.
When asked how he feels about being dropped, the embattled rapper explained that he doesn’t really care because it doesn’t hurt his pocketbook.
“I ain’t losing no money, they didn’t pay me nothing,” he told TMZ outside his daughter North West’s basketball game on Friday night.
Balenciaga also removed an image of him from their website. “The day when I was taken off the Balenciaga site, that was one of the most freeing days,” he claimed.
He did, however, praise Balenciaga artistic director Demna, who collaborated with Ye on his Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga line.
“We’re about making product that’s $20, the best design in the world, and that’s the reason we brought the head designer from Balenciaga, who’s a great designer, that’s why I brought him to the Gap in the first place,” he said. “But they didn’t allow that to happen, and that’s why I had to get up out of the big corporations so I could get directly to the people.”
His adidas partnership remains in jeopardy. The German sportswear giant said its relationship with Ye is “under review.” “We going through legal right now so anything could happen,” said West.
He also brought up his interview with “The Shop: Uninterrupted,” which didn’t air because it contained “hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes,” according to Maverick Carter, LeBron James’ business partner on the HBO show.
“I think people just try to score points, like Maverick Carter had me go on a show just to say we took him off the show,” he said. “Then I go on ‘Drink Champs,’ then they take it down.”
“Drink Champs” removed its interview with West from YouTube and N.O.R.E. has since apologized after Ye made more ant-Semitic remarks and falsely claimed that George Floyd died of fentanyl consumption rather than being suffocated by a police officer’s knee.
In the wake of the controversial interview, Floyd’s family has announced plans to sue West for $250 million.