Kanye west used porn, bullying, "mind games" to control staff
There was silence in the factory benchmark room in qingyuan, china as kanye west inspected prototypes of his latest yeezy sneakers displayed before him. Adidas movers and members of his entourage were anxiously awaiting his feedback when, according to two people present at a meeting a month later in 2017, west began yelling that the yeezy weren't up to his standards yet, and almost approached the senior employee afterwards. Those present write that west stared at his foot, looked at the woman and said to her: "my goal is that you make me shoes, then i can fuck." Layoffs, alleged nazi inspiration and pure chaos”
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Kanye west paid compensation to ex- employee who says rapper praised hitler: report about his alleged remark, two participants contend. The woman took a leave of absence before moving on to another job at adidas (in a digital email, she declined to comment and asked not to be named here). However, former yeezy and adidas employees point to the alleged incident as just one of such experiences - in a decade - when they say west used intimidation tactics for employees of his fashion empire that were provocative, often erotic, and sometimes directed at women.
<> in the month since adidas cut ties with west with a hail of hate speech, a large number of former yeezy and adidas employees told rolling stone about a brutal office culture that made some of them fear for own finances to being. Behind the scenes, this famous boss has done more than test the limits of professionalism: former yeezy and adidas employees and creatives allege that he showed pornography to yeezy employees at meetings; discussed the video and showed an intimate photo of kim kardashian in a business interview and showed candid videos and images of kardashian, as well as his own sex tapes to members of the yeezy team.
Now in a revealing open letter from prominent former members of the yeezy team say adidas leaders were aware of west's "problematic behavior" but "turned off their moral compass," prompting questions from various media outlets about whether his corporate partner could have intervened years ago. Editor's choice
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“There was no responsibility,” says one of the participants in the qingyuan meeting. “There were difficult moments when the leaders were present in the apartment - the level of vice president or higher and it was impossible to decide on anything. The next day you will always come to work.”
On tuesday night, several former high-ranking yeezy employees sent a scathing letter to members of the executive advisory board and the new adidas ceo. , Urging them to highlight "the toxic and chaotic environment that kanye west has created" and the exceptionally painful pattern of predatory behavior towards women that operated under west's direction in the yeezy-adidas partnership products. The letter, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by rolling stone magazine, said: “he previously lashed out at the ladies at home with offensive remarks and resorted to sexually disturbing references when providing design feedback. This type of response from a brand partner can never be exposed to adidas employees or adidas management.”
In response to several detailed lists of questions from rolling stone, an adidas spokesperson made a brief statement in which, specifically, states that the online store will not discuss private conversations, details or events that led [sic] to our decision to stop working with adidas yeezy, and declines to comment on any related speculation." West, who recently stopped working with his publicist and was dropped as a client by his high-ranking attorneys, has not gone into direct message or middleman feedback. Pornography" that "destroyed my family", and to sex as a source of inspiration for designers.In headphones, several ex-yeezy and adidas employees lament the fact that something happened that they thought was adidas management's unwritten rule - "kanye is just kanye" - and underestimated the fact that tv shows were once considered relatively innocuous comments. However, the authors of the letter, titled "the truth about the yeezy: a call to action for adidas leadership," accuse the company of not having "the accountability, accountability, and protection that adidas has failed to offer our employees in so many years of poker has been years of verbal disputes." Insults, vulgar tirades and intimidation.”
In late 2013, west moved yeezy from nike to adidas. A few months later, he invited an aspiring creative, whom he met only once. Phone to his mexican-inspired home in tulum in the hollywood hills. The creative was excited about the potential collaboration and recalls how west, minutes after entering the living room, beckoned them to examine his laptop.
But instead of something that looked like work, the co-author claims. There was hardcore pornography on west's screen. “He showed me videos of francesca le, a sexy porn star with a dildo, fucking another girl in the ass,” says a former rolling stone employee. "He's like, 'what do you think of that?' "Practically not laughing." Two other creatives, in particular one in connection with the early years of yeezy, note that west also showed them sex videos, in particular homemade sex work in which west had sex with women.
Former an employee who visited west home says they found the meeting amusing at first, and recalls how west appreciated their response about everything that porn stars are artists too. “At the time, i found it strange, but in keeping with his personality as an edgy artist,” says a former employee. "Now, seeing this kind of reception in a larger scheme, i feel like it was a tactic to break down societies, and establish his unwavering devotion to it, testing and breaking people's boundaries." (In a statement to rolling stone magazine after the article was submitted, le can emphatically state that it is extremely disturbing, discouraging and disappointing that a poker player is using my work in a way that humiliates other visitors.)
In october of this year, in the midst of a public meltdown and the denouement of his adidas operation, west released a 30-minute documentary on youtube. There was a scene where he showed a pornographic video to two adidas executives on the phone in front of two members of his inner circle. A couple of moments later in the documentary, west alludes to the fact that using the services of his dealings with adidas were such antics as "game in pornography," and "screams": "we did it all," he tells. Sherwin pishevar, a venture capitalist who worked with west, steps in to tell executives, "all the subtleties you feel in modern times are extreme discomfort and that's the point." In a legal letter to the adidas board that aims to speak on behalf of the collective of professionals, they may be afraid to speak out", asserts that the oak scene is "by no means a new identity in regards to bullying" and that "kanye's problematic behavior was started in in his first year with adidas."
Pete fox, who served as president of yeezy that year, recalls west interacting alone with the "losers" and art nerds of the yeezy startup days , even in the middle of the release of the life of pablo. “If he likes you and tries to get customers on the team, he is very charming,” explains fox, adding: “if he didn’t like you or if something happened, he would come out as himself, and so much effort was would be over. Reacting to interest in the accusations that west was showing porn to yeezy employees, fox told rolling stone: "i've never watched porn with him or anything like that in my life, however we looked at the situation together, which may have surprised would be people." He continues: "there's a lot of seductive and controversial stuff that goes around in tall fashion that they might refer to or look at, unlike a given company like adidas, where the visitor definitely won't show naked immunity on a mood site."
Fox was the only person who agreed to write his proud name in this kind of publication. Many other yeezy and adidas employees and contractors, as well as the authors of the open letter, requested anonymity in order to be specific, citing adidas policy, possible lawsuits after non-disclosure agreements are in place - and fear of public reprisal from west. None of us interviewed for such an article would say if they officially complained to adidas management about west's behavior.But a dozen former yeezy and adidas employees recalled the atmosphere in which west praised certain professionals and belittled employees he had publicly endorsed just a couple of weeks, if not moments ago—“a game of science-based precursors,” as one ex-existing employee called it. . For example, after a one-time disagreement, west sat a young color designer on the floor for a meeting that lasted a long time, according to a former consultant in the room. "You don't deserve to work behind a desk," west's employee recalled.
"No wonder he didn't dream of senior business managers in the room," the open letter states. . "He sought to continue to use his power to rape you discreetly and threaten your role and existence on the team.
The letter goes on to say that the "alarming" sexualized airspace around women in yeezy indicates on the nuance that west “bullies and intimidates to arrange what he wants”: “the most disturbing behavior that should have been noticed by the executive team at the beginning of the partnership is his manipulative and fear-based approach to leading the team, and deal needed when trying to assert dominance over adidas employees in closed rooms.”
Yeezy’s first collection, released three years ago, featured the debut of the yeezy boost 350 sneaker, a vision of knitwear and moon-ready footprints that became global status symbol. Adidas expanded its deal with west in june 2016, giving him control over an entire category of footwear, apparel, accessories, perfume and, eventually, even architecture. The executives at adidas, based in belgium and france, raved about him in public and urged yeezy to recruit.
I feel [west showing 18+ films turned out to be a tactic to to break people, and confirm it. His unwavering devotion to him, testing and breaking human boundaries.
At the brutalist 14,390-square-foot yeezy office in calabasas, california, west gathered alongside selected designers who acted for his west brands and team the developer travels from adidas headquarters to america in portland, oregon. Two of west's confidants recall thriving on a story that showed "middle management" didn't get in the way of creatives, and three former senior employees have evidence that west shied away from operational tech support and surveillance from portland's side. "He wanted absolute control," says fox, the former president of yeezy, who helped negotiate the contract extension. “Steve jobs or elon musk… they were accountable to shareholders; kanye owns his brands 100% - he is able to do what he wants, so he is only here to work as a manufacturer for pleasure. , A former senior employee, claims two adidas executives warned them of west's particularly passionate passions. An employee remembers how one adidas vp said, “hey, just: just so you know, they have a similar porn reference,” and another executive said, “this will take you by surprise for the first time. I guess he does it to take people by surprise." (The vp did not respond to questions about reviews. The co-executive declined to comment.)
Senior employee testifies that west really took the yeezy employees by surprise. “He was in a meeting, talking to a client and chatting on his laptop” to showcase naughty videos, says a rolling stone employee. "And the risk is, 'i know it's uncomfortable, but i need it to stay in the background so i can focus.' West plays sex videos at meetings at least five times.
One afternoon at the very beginning of 2018, according to the comments of a high-ranking employee of the house, west was sitting on a bench in the back of an open calabasas. A vacancy, which he liked to call the white box, for an interview with a female candidate. A senior shoe designer was presenting a portfolio at her home across the desk from west, an employee recalls when west interrupted to provide the designer with advice similar to this, which the employee reports west repeatedly told yeezy employees, "if users ever get creative, just watch sex stories for 10 minutes."
The woman paused, remembering the high-profile employee trying to continue her presentation, but west continued: "when you're going to be part of a yeezy, it's crazy shit being talked about here . Required to adhere to it. We keep moving and people keep creating.”
During the interview, a senior official claims that west "tried to check on [her] to see if she would call him about it." And also if she was able to roll with his secrets. An employee recalls how west continued: “we create products with passion. I literally want to fuck my shoes. That's how good they are.”
The candidate who didn't get the job told rolling stone that he would neither confirm nor deny the high-ranking employee's story. But the employee recalls west making similar statements to co-workers about shoes that west or a yeezy consumer could ejaculate in - "not a sneaker-sex toy, but something you were so into that you would choose to get intimate" - by at least 10 separate times. "He would say, 'literally fuck.' He would have understood very clearly what that meant.”
Many of the women in this room felt intimidated and felt intimidated. It truly feels like emotional abuse.
The conventional wisdom spread throughout the yeezy and adidas offices that west allegedly made another such comment to a senior employee in the middle kingdom in front of adidas executives at an event. Key design meeting, and five ex-employees did not recall talking about the organization's investigation or intervention in the said alleged incident. Let them know about it,” says one former employee of the employee’s subsequent departure from yeezy. “It meant turning a blind eye.”
An open letter about west’s work history claims that adidas leaders “continued to tolerate his difficult behavior” for several years: “if there was any case that to protect the inadequate actions of the executive team, in addition to the fact that they were owed to the shareholders, it seemed that such measures simply did not try, how to behave or speak in such unpleasant situations, or how to care for kanye without causing him further irritation, or act in through this so as not to jeopardize their position or partnership. So instead, board members and the executive team turned off their moral compass, ignoring both kanye's inflammatory public behavior and the yeezy team's complaints about the disturbing partner dynamics."
In adidas' statement to rolling stone, a spokesperson the company wrote: “adidas does not tolerate hate speech and abusive behavior and for this reason has ceased interaction with the adidas yeezy. We have been and continue to actively discuss with current professionals the events that led [eg in english] to the decision presented to end the partnership. They are renowned for our full support, and as we worked through the details of the layoffs, we made it clear "we want to keep the talents and skills of our employees within the organization." "Been through a lot of shit and she left because of that shit - 100%." Nevertheless, the employee recalls how shocked he was when, a full year after the alleged incident in china, his colleagues, according to them, left the corporate party with west and immediately spoke about the “awkward and uncomfortable” moment: “he opened sex with milfs and said: see this feeling? Is that feeling you get when you watch this? It’s all my job to make users feel when they put on our shoes.” And that moment was like, “oh my god, is this really happening?” He couldn't use any other way to describe it other than how to show porn?
Last year, west held a meeting in chicago with a young creative who considered it a job interview. A potential employee said he felt on edge when he entered the room to find west dancing to his own music at full blast. The creative recalls how west finally noticed the interview and casually pulled out his phone.
"My wife just sent me this," west said, according to the creative. On west's smartphone, the creative claims, there was an intimate photo of kardashian. “It was left very straight forward on its own,” the creative tells rolling stone magazine. I didn't react much. https://vip-bitches.net/tags/Ohshititslele/ A source close to the creative recalls that he was told about the kardashian photo a couple of hours after the rendezvous. At least again in 2018, west showed the best kardashian video to members of the yeezy collective, according to the comments of a person who will confidently say that he saw the video. (A kardashian rep did not respond to countless requests for comment.)
West did not show his yeezy collection at new york fashion week in september. However, he traveled to las vegas to serve as the creative director of the pornhub awards.For the occasion, he unveiled new yeezy clothes, designed a "custom erotic style award statue, and publicly unveiled the song 'i love it'." An employee recalls the first time west played a track for a personal yeezy team in the office — with the chorus, “you’re so fucking ho, i love it, and looked around for a reaction. “I grew up around this kind of songs and this culture, so it’s not so shocking to me,” says an employee about west’s provocations in the workplace. “But i can understand why and how some people were super affected and super uncomfortable. And he definitely told me, in that presence, in front of the vice presidents, all sorts of nasty things.”
According to two former senior employees, west kept some adidas executives out of meetings; in turn, employees say, yeezy managers felt compelled to share detailed notes on existing interactions in the west with adidas management. One former member of the yeezy team testifies that they realized that the culture "was so iconic that it worked for him - this conversation turned into something like: 'well, they also try to control what our firm is doing here.'
This year, a former employee told rolling stone magazine that the shoe design team almost forgot about one new yeezy when she recalled being shown a message from west: "he said, 'we got me i really need to make these shoes because all i can think about is kim's butt and these shoes." One of the mostmost popular important models," the employee