As Kanye West is pushing back against the cancel culture, the Adidas CEO seemingly extended an olive branch to his former estranged partner.
Appearing on the Norwegian podcast In Good Company, the head honcho Bjørn Gulden opened up on the thorny issue related to Ye’s troubled relationship with the apparel giant.
“Kanye is one of the most creative people in the world,” he said, “both in music and what I call ‘street culture.’ So he’s extremely creative and has, together with Adi, created a Yeezy line that was very successful.”
He continued, “And then, as creative people, he did some statements, which wasn’t [sic] that good. And that caused Adi to break the 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.”
Lamenting on the loss of Kanye, the top executive called the cutting ties with him as “very sad.”
“That meant we lost that business,” he continued. “One of the most successful collabs in history – very sad. But again, when you work with third parties, that could happen. It’s part of the game. That can happen with an athlete, it can happen with an entertainer. It’s part of the business.”
Last October, Adidas severed ties with Kanye after the controversial rap star went on a spree of anti-Semitic outbursts.