Kanye West axed by Balenciaga amid anti-semitic backlash and George Floyd lawsuit

Kanye West is facing more drama after Balenciaga confirmed that it has cut ties with the rapper.

The Praise God musician-turned fashion designer has sparked extreme backlash over the last few weeks, following his White Lives Matter T-shirt stunt and anti-semitic remarks on Instagram.

He has also been hit with a $250million lawsuit over his comments regarding the incident that led to George Floyd’s death, while taking part on a podcast.

It has now been revealed that bosses at huge fashion house Balenciaga, who have worked closely with Ye in the past, have decided to end their working relationship.

Kering, the parent company of the brand, confirmed the news in a statement to WWD: ‘Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.’

Although the star has courted a lot of criticism lately, it is unclear what led to their decision.

Earlier this week, the dad-of-four sat down with Piers Morgan for an explosive interview, in which he defended his recent behavior before apologizing for his anti-semitic comments.

The presenter was questioned on whether he regretted threatening to go ‘Defcon 3 on Jewish people’ in a post which saw him locked out of both Twitter and Instagram.

At first, West doubled down on his comments, declaring: ‘No, absolutely not’.

When Morgan asked if he knew the comments were racist, he said: ‘Yes, that’s why I said it… I fought fire with fire. I’m not here to get hosed down.’

A short while later, however, he offered an apology, stating: ‘I will say, I’m sorry for the people that I hurt with the Defcon… the confusion that I caused.

‘I feel like I caused hurt and confusion and I’m sorry for the families that had nothing to do with the trauma that I had been through.

‘Hurt people hurt people – and I was hurt.’

It comes after West appeared on the Drink Champs podcast on October 15 and sparked further outrage when he discussed Floyd’s death in 2020, which led to huge protests across the US and around the world.

Floyd was murdered during an arrest when Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers who arrived on the scene of a suspected burglary, knelt on his neck and back for nine minutes and 29 seconds.

In the podcast, he claimed that the police brutality victim was killed by the drug fentanyl and that the police officer’s knee ‘wasn’t even on his neck like that’.

Following the comments, Floyd’s family launched legal action against the Grammy-winner and are thought to be seeking $250million in damages.

[via]