How some of Tallahassee's Adidas retailers are responding to Ye's antisemitic remarks

The firestorm created by antisemitic comments from rapper/entrepreneur Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has reached Tallahassee, with some local retailers ordered to remove his products from floor sales.

Ye's tweet from Oct. 8, promising to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE," and subsequent echoing of popular anti-Semitic talking points spurred the backlash.

Under pressure from the Anti-Defamation League, Adidas ordered his shoes to be removed from all partnering stores after officially cutting ties. Tallahassee sporting goods retailers including Hibbett Sports Inc. and its subsidiary, City Gear, have been told to pull their Yeezy products off the shelf and wait for further instructions on what to do with the inventory.

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With Adidas calling the shots, sales for the “Hibbett-City” stores in Tallahassee will be affected by the end of this partnership as they have officially pulled all Yeezy merchandise off their shelves, as well as posts of the Yeezy shoes on their social media platforms.

The Hibbett Sports location inside the Centre of Tallahassee was the only Hibbett Sports location in Tallahassee to carry Yeezy products, including Yeezy Boost 350s, Yeezy 500s, Yeezy Boost 700s and Yeezy slides, since this summer, store manager Dondreous Brown told the Tallahassee Democrat.

Brown said sales had been “pretty good” on the products, but Adidas gave the company no option but to remove them from display.

Foot Locker in Governors Square mall, which also carried the Yeezy products, removed its inventory after orders from its corporate offices, shortly after Adidas released its statement.

Store employees said they were not allowed to comment.

In an interview with Footwear News, Foot Locker representatives stated; “[Our company does] not tolerate any form of antisemitism, or hateful and discriminatory behavior. While we remain a partner with adidas and carry a wide assortment of their collections — we will not be supporting any future Yeezy product drops, and we have instructed our retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites.”

One Tallahassee retailer still selling the products is Copped, an independent shoe store inside Governors Square mall. A store employee would not address the removal of the products from his competitor’s shelves but told the Tallahassee Democrat the choice is “up to consumers whether they want to buy the shoe or not.”

The Yeezy shoes were displayed at the front of the independent establishment with the exclusive shoes lined up on store benches in cling wrap with price tags starting at $300 for the shoes. More Yeezy products were around the store.

One fan of that shares the buyer’s choice narrative is Kylan Guerrier, a Florida A&M student who stated he will never stop supporting a successful Black man who "reached heights."

Other Yeezy shoe owners stated they do not blame Adidas for cutting ties with Ye despite their love for the comfort and design of his shoes.

"It will be hard for me to get another pair because I do not believe in celebrities that keep negativity circulating around their name," said Cierra Harper, a Florida A&M student. "Kanye's brand image as a whole hit rock bottom, and I am expecting his clothing and shoe line to do the same."

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There were a series of controversial social media posts from Ye before Adidas cut ties, including a picture with American conservative Candace Owens in a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt, a false claim that George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose rather than being killed by a police officer and antisemitic comments in an unreleased interview Oct. 11 with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and an interview with News Nation's Chris Cuomo on Oct. 17.

In both interviews, Ye made multiple comments regarding Jewish people and their alleged control of the media. It was at this point the Anti-Defamation League intervened with a letter addressed to Adidas executives Oct. 20 after no comments were made regarding Ye’s behavior in the media. In the letter, the Anti-Defamation League stated; “We were particularly alarmed to see that the Adidas brand intends to release new products in the Yeezy line, including the Yeezy Boost 350, in the run-up to the anniversary of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre on Oct. 27 – the most violent antisemitic attack in U.S. history.”

As a response, Adidas issued a news release Oct. 25 stating; “adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

The end of their nine-year relationship with Ye was effective immediately including ending all production of the shoes and the end of payments to Ye and all his businesses ventures, which is expected to have a negative $250 million impact on their net income for Q4, the release said.

Democrat writer Kyla A. Sanford can be reached at ksanford@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Yeezy products in Tallahassee removed as Adidas ends Ye partnership