“Let me explain really clear to you guys what’s happening with Adidas,” Kanye said, addressing the ether of social media in a new video. “Not only are they putting out fake colorways that are non-approved, they’re suing me for $250M, and they’re also not paying me.”
Kanye’s claims were made only days before Adidas is set to release the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 in a “Steel Grey” colorway on Feb 29. Like many divorces, this one is messy, and it has a paper trail longer than the “Who TF Did I Marry” thread on TikTok. Still, we dug through the archives to determine if Kanye’s accusations can be substantiated. Find out below.
What was Kanye’s contract with Adidas?
In 2016, Kanye signed a multi-year contract with Adidas that had a moral clause with grounds for termination. According to The New York Times, these grounds included felony conviction, bankruptcy, 30 days of mental health or substance abuse treatment, and anything that brings “disrepute, contempt, scandal” to Kanye and, by proxy Adidas.
It also outlined that Kanye would get a 15% royalty on all Yeezy sales and $100M annually, officially for Yeezy marketing, but unofficially for Kanye to do what he wanted instead of traditional marketing.
Think of these terms like a prenup; they give structure to a divorce, but if you have the right lawyers and a certain amount of spite, the fine print is up for debate.
Is Adidas suing Kanye?
Shortly after their conscious uncoupling in Oct 2022, Adidas froze $75M in Yeezy assets. This part of the legal dispute stems from the $100M annual fund, mentioned in the previous section.
Adidas claims to have paid $50M to a Yeezy Wyoming bank account and $25M to Yeezy’s JPMorgan Chase account. They allege that Yeezy mishandled all of these marketing funds—mixing the money with general accounts and using it for unauthorized purposes.
Adidas dropped the federal case and moved to private arbitration instead, pursuing a return of the $75M and unspecified monetary damages, claiming Kanye reduced the brand to “economic rubble.”
Unfortunately, details of private arbitration cases are just that—private. Kanye may have been referring to this lawsuit, but the amount he’s being sued for can’t be confirmed.
What about the Yeezy sales?
Divorce is easy—said no one ever. Kanye may be entitled to 15% of all Yeezy sales, but the terms of his contract and any applicable laws would determine if he gets royalty payments during the litigation process. Once again, the answer is unclear.
The Financial Times reported that Adidas made $565M in revenue from Yeezy drops in May 2023, giving Kanye just under $85M at his royalty rate. Would he be publicly blasting a product if he was profiting from it? Probably not.
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