Former Yeezy staffers say Kanye West used “cult-like” intimidation tactics, including playing p### during meetings to break down his team.
Kanye West is accused of operating a “cult-like” working environment where staffers would be routinely exposed to p###, including Ye’s own sex tapes and even explicit images of Kim Kardashian as an “intimidation” tactic. Adidas executives were allegedly aware of Ye’s antics. However employees say they turned a blind eye because of the billions of dollars the Yeezy brand generated.
In an open letter viewed by Rolling Stone, staff accuse Ye of a pattern of inappropriate oversexualized behavior that Adidas management accepted with the unwritten rule “Kanye is just Kanye.”
Such actions include Ye showing employees p### on his laptop during meetings and repeatedly expressing his desire to design shoes he would “literally want to f###.”
Kanye West Exposed Explicit Pics & Video Of Kim Kardashian
In a 2018 job interview, Kanye West allegedly showed a prospective employee an intimate photo of Kim Kardashian. “My wife just sent me this,” he said, displaying a “very revealing and personal” image on his phone. He is also said to have shown explicit video of Kardashian to members of the creative team at Yeezy.
One former Yeezy employee said of Kanye West’s antics, “seeing it within a larger pattern, I feel it was a tactic to break a person down and establish their unwavering allegiance to him, testing and destroying people’s boundaries.”
One staffer said Ye’s domineering tactic did not appear gender-based but felt “reminiscent of an emotional abuser.”
During a job interview with a female senior footwear designer, Ye interrupted her presentation with a word of advice. “If you ever get stuck creatively, just watch p### for 10 minutes,” he told the interviewee. One former employee said he’s heard Kanye West make the same statement more than once.
“If you’re gonna be part of Yeezy, we say crazy s### here. You gotta stick with it. We keep moving, and we keep creating,” Kanye West allegedly told her after she tried to return to her speech.
The open letter, sent to the Adidas board on Tuesday (Nov. 22), calls for a review and a public apology to the Yeezy team over “Kanye’s terrorizing behavior.”
“As much as we all would love to solely blame Kanye,” the letter states, “the undeniable truth is that the Adidas executive team and the board have been huge enablers.”
