Adidas has opened an investigation after former employees accused the company of failing to protect staff against “years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades and bullying attacks” from Kanye West.
The artist, who now goes by Ye, collaborated with the sportswear giant on the Yeezy brand until last month when the brand terminated the partnership following the singer’s anti-semitic remarks.
Adidas has now been accused of turning a blind eye to West’s behaviour during his time at the company.
West is accused of playing pornography to staff in meetings and showing an intimate picture of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Rolling Stone reported earlier this week.
Former employees sent Adidas a letter claiming the company was aware of the singer’s “problematic behaviour” but “turned their moral compass off”.
The decision to open an independent probe was announced after Union Investment, one of Adidas’s largest shareholders with a 1% stake, demanded clarity about the alleged incidents.
Adidas has said while it takes the allegations “very seriously” it underlines the fact it is “currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true”.
Twitter closes Brussels office leading to online safety concerns
Elon Musk has reportedly closed Twitter’s office in Brussels, raising fears around the social platform’s compliance with new EU laws covering big tech and hate speech.
The Telegraph reports the office was disbanded after a row over the policing of Twitter’s content in the region.
It follows the departure last week of Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, who were in charge of Twitter’s digital policy in Europe. The duo were responsible for getting Twitter in shape to comply with the EU’s Digital Services act, which came into force last week. Many other executives have already left the Brussels office following Musk’s takeover of Twitter, which has seen around half its global workforce exit. Meanwhile, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has also said Twitter will provide “general amnesty” to many suspended accounts from next week. He has already offered to reinstate the accounts of former US president Donald Trump and Kanye West.
