Rev. Al Sharpton said Adidas was right to cut ties with Kanye West following his anti-Semitic tirade, because the rapper and fashion designer has been unapologetic.
Sharpton — who once led an anti-Semitic march through the streets of Brooklyn and was accused of failing to apologize himself — made the statement on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday after the German shoe company dropped its Yeezy brand collaborator.
“Kanye is a great artist, but it is now clear that it’s intentional,” Sharpton said of the musician, now known as Ye.
“When he says, ‘I say something anti-Semitic and they can’t drop me.’ So we’re not even arguing about whether it is intentional now,” the 68-year-old Harlem civil rights leader-turned-correspondent said.
Adidas was the last corporate partner to cut ties with the artist, waiting 16 days after he threatened to go “death con 3 on” Jews to terminate the lucrative business relationship.
Ye, who claims to suffer from bipolar disorder, had already been dropped by talent agency CAA, Vogue and Balenciaga after he doubled down on his offensive rhetoric and refused to apologize.
During his morning-show appearance, Sharpton seemed to refer to his own history of anti-Semitic remarks, most notably during the Crown Heights race riots in the 1990s.
Sharpton delivered a eulogy for 7-year-old black boy Gavin Cato who was struck and killed by a car in the motorcade of a Hasidic rabbi, telling the crowd that the boy’s death was actually the result of “the social accident of apartheid.” He also blasted “the diamond merchants right here in Crown Heights” and called on Jews to “pay for your deeds.”
Violent riots ensued in the following days with participants calling for “death to the Jews.” Sharpton led a procession calling for justice as some protesters burned the Israeli flag and carried anti-Semitic signs, according to media reports at the time.
Yankel Rosenbaum, an Australian-born Hasidic scholar who had nothing to do with the motorcade, was stabbed to death in the violence that followed.
Sharpton has been accused of failing to apologize for his comments.
But on Tuesday, he compared his scandal to West’s, noting, “Twenty-five years ago, Mrs. [Coretta Scott] King sat me down and said, ‘Whether or not you mean it, you’re saying things that are harmful and that could be interpreted wrong, you need to clean it up.’
“This is not saying I didn’t understand that, I didn’t understand,” Sharpton said, referring to West’s situation. “This is somebody owning this. So if he’s going to own that he’s anti-Semitic, how can Adidas use him or anybody else to advertise what they sell?”
Ye’s divorce from Adidas cost him $1.5 billion — most of his net worth, which now stands at only $400 million, according to Forbes.
“So I mean, how many times is he going to cross the line and now even having banners raised saying praising him as being anti-Semitic,” Sharpton continued. “And you going to have him advertise your product?”
Gap also announced Tuesday that it was pulling products from its Yeezy Gap line and shutting down YeezyGap.com following the rapper’s remarks. Their partnership ended in September.
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