The French luxury fashion house who collaborated with Kanye West has severed ties with him following multiple cases of antisemitism and hate speech.
Coming just after the publication of their third-quarter results on Thursday, Balenciaga’s parent company Kering said the French fashion house have decided to part ways and would no longer be working on projects with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West(now legally knows as Ye), who has been seen making several controversial public comments in recent weeks, including anti-Semitic threats and hate speech.
As a response to a query from Women’s Week Daily, Kering responded saying “Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist”.
The rapper was present for the Balenciaga Summer 2023 show which took place in a mud pit during Paris Fashion Week and was seen sporting a mouth guard covering his teeth and wore an outfit that bore resemblance to battle gear.
Also in Paris at the surprise Yeezy season 9 show, he was seen with controversial character Candice Owen where they were both wearing branded shirts with the tag “white lives matter”, an inverse of the popular social justice slogan “black lives matter”. He also went on his now defunct Instagram saying “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now it’s over, you’re welcome.”
Following the public backlash after his show, Ye began attacking his critics from Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson to luxury businessman Bernard Arnault and his former friends. He has also doubled down on these comments which have inspired legal action against him and has seen him removed from both Twitter abs Instagram.
His relationship with Adidas is also in contention and according to the sportswear brand “under review” while the partnership with Gap Inc. has been terminated.
