On Tuesday (Oct. 26), Los Angeles Rams star and defensive tackle Aaron Donald announced that he is parting ways with Kanye West’s Donda Sports marketing agency in light of West’s “recent comments and displays of hate and antisemitism.” The announcement was posted to Twitter and was signed by both Donald and his wife, Erica Donald.
Several minutes later, Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown also announced via the social media platform that he is ending his association with Donda Sports, writing that he will “always continue to stand strongly against any antisemitism, hate speech, misrepresentation, and oppressive rhetoric of any kind.” Brown, who one day earlier had said in an interview with the Boston Globe that he would remain with Donda Sports despite the fact that he didn’t condone Ye’s remarks, reversed his decision after receiving pushback.
Donald was the only NFL player to have signed with Donda Sports, and Brown was the only player from the NBA to have made a deal with the agency. The athletes were signed in May and had no deals impacting their representation.
The two announcements dropped just hours after Adidas announced that they, too, were cutting ties with the controversial musician, who legally changed his name to Ye in September. The move has downgraded Ye West from billionaire status and comes after West’s recent antisemitic media tour.
On Oct. 9, West Tweeted that he would “go death con three on Jewish people”, implying that he was either preparing to face some kind of threat from Jewish people or that he himself was going to inflict violence on the marginalized demographic. He claimed that it was not antisemitic because “black people are actually Jews also.” The tweet was removed, and Twitter locked his account.
West was also heavily criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at his fashion show in Paris–a phrase that is classified as “hate speech” by the Anti-Defamation League. The rapper also posted a screenshot of a conversation he had with Sean “Diddy” Combs on Instagram, in which he made several antisemitic remarks.
A number of other businesses have joined in cutting ties with West over the last week, including Vogue and Balenciaga. On Tuesday, Foot Locker announced it would no longer “be supporting any future Yeezy product drops” and that it had told, “retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites.” Similar announcements from West’s other partners are expected to keep coming.
