Adidas says it has reached a settlement with rapper Kanye West and has ended all legal proceedings between the two.

The German sportswear giant had been embroiled in a legal battle with Ye since they severed their relationship in 2022 following allegations of anti-Semitism against the artiste.

‘There are no more open issues and there is no more money that has gone to either side,’ adidas chief executive Bjorn Gulden told reporters, without giving any details of the agreement.

‘We had tensions on many issues, but both sides recognised that we don't need to fight anymore. No one owes anyone anything anymore,’ he said, adding that the drama with West was ’in the past.’

Adidas and West struck a deal in 2014 after the rapper ended his partnership with Nike. The collaboration became one of the most successful in sportswear history, and the resulting Yeezy line helped West become a billionaire.

After a series of anti-Semitic comments by West on social media in October 2022, adidas announced the end of the collaboration, calling his remarks ‘unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.’ The company said it ‘will not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other type of hate speech.’
West repeated many of his claims in multiple interviews, and later claimed his fortune dropped by $2 billion in one day because several companies severed relationships with him. A year later, Goulden spoke out in West's defence, saying the rapper's comments were ‘very unfortunate’.

‘I don't think he meant what he said and I don't think he's a bad person - it just happened. We lost that business. One of the most successful collaborations in history - very sad. But again, when you're working with third parties, it can happen. It's part of the game. It can happen to an athlete, it can happen to an artiste. It's part of the business.’

In October 2023, The New York Times run a great piece on the adidas-Kanye West partnership, which came to an end in October 2022. Among the rapper's antics, it mentions an incident when the artist suggested that the adidas director kiss a portrait of Hitler every day.

In February this year, West accused the company of selling counterfeit trainers of the Yeezy range. The artiste urged his fans to boycott the brand. ‘Anybody who loves Ye will not buy these fake Yeezy's. I never created Yeezy in these colours. I'm not getting paid for my trainers and adidas is suing me,’ Kanye wrote.