Adidas launches investigation into claims Kanye West showed porn and explicit images of Kim Kardashian to staff
Adidas is launching an investigation into allegations of misconduct against Kanye West, including claims he showed pornography and explicit images of Kim Kardashian to staff members.
The German sportswear giant, which ended its partnership with the rapper last month, said it received an anonymous letter containing several allegations against the rapper.
The independent probe follows a Rolling Stone report claiming that Kanye used pornography, bullying and “mind games” to control staff.
Citing interviews with more than two dozen former Yeezy and Adidas staff, the magazine detailed allegations that West played pornography to Yeezy staff in meetings, discussed porn and showed an intimate photograph of Kim Kardashian in job interviews, and showed an explicit video and photos of Kardashian as well as his own sex tapes to Yeezy team members.
In one alleged 2017 incident, Kanye is accused of yelling “I want you to make me a shoe I can f***” at a senior female employee after claiming the Yeezy trainers he was inspecting were not up to standard.
The woman, who asked not to be named and declined to comment for the article, is said to have taken leave of absence before moving to a job elsewhere at Adidas.
According to the magazine, it is these former members of the team who sent the anonymous letter to Adidas, accusing senior company leaders of turning a “blind eye” to Kanye’s behaviour, and saying they “turned their moral compass off.”
The letter is also understood to draw attention to “the toxic and chaotic environment” they say was created by Kanye, as well as “a very sick pattern of predacious behaviour toward women”.
An Adidas spokesperson told Reuters: “It is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true. However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations.”
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Earlier in the week, one of Adidas’s largest shareholders, Union Investment, wrote to the company asking for more information about the claims, and when the internal allegations were first raised with management.
West’s fashion brand Yeezy was initially a collaboration launched with Nike in 2009, but transferred to Adidas in 2013. At the time Kanye said the move was due to a dispute over royalties.
West has previously spoken publicly about suffering from a “pornography addiction”, saying it “destroyed my family”.
He split with Kim Kardashian after six years of marriage. She is also mother to his four children.
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The rapper has recently faced a backlash following antisemitic comments on social media, resulting in his agent letting him go, as well as his bank JP Morgan cutting ties.
Brands including Balenciaga, Foot Locker and Gap have also ended partnerships with the musician.
Meanwhile, West has announced he will be running for the 2024 US presidential elections and has asked Donald Trump to be his running mate.
West also ran for office in 2020, but only made it on to the presidential ballot in a handful of states due to a combination of missed deadlines and lack of signatures.
Kanye West has been approached for comment.
US
California: 21 children taken into custody – amid claims couple misled surrogate mothers across the US
Police have taken 21 children into custody, amid allegations that a couple in Los Angeles may have misled surrogate mothers across the US.
Silvia Zhang, 38, and Guojun Xuan, 65, are believed to be the legal parents of the children, who are aged between two months and 13 years old.
“We believe one or two were born biologically to the mother,” Lieutenant Kollin Cieadlo said. “There are some surrogates who have come forward and said they were surrogates for the children.”
“The couple told police that they wanted a large family,” he added.
The home of Silva Zhang and Guojun Xuan, northeast of downtown Los Angeles
Fifteen children were removed from the couple’s home in Arcadia, about 13 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, after an abuse allegation was made. Another six living in the care of family and friends were also located.
The couple were arrested in May after a hospital reported that their two-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury – with a nanny accused of violently shaking the baby.
The infant was not taken to hospital until two days later, after they began suffering seizures.
CCTV footage recorded inside the home showed the children being emotionally and physically abused by at least six nannies.
The couple’s property had CCTV cameras, which police said recorded footage of abuse by nannies. Pic: AP
Lt Cieadlo said Zhang had produced what appeared to be legitimate birth certificates, including some from outside California, that list her as the mother of the children.
Business records show a company called Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC was previously registered at the couple’s address, although the most recent documents show the business licence ended in June.
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Police said they are investigating whether the children found at the home in the San Gabriel Valley were part of a surrogacy scam.
Lt Cieadlo also confirmed officers were working with the FBI as part of their investigation.
Kayla Elliott, one of the surrogate mothers who has come forward, told Sky’s US partner NBC News: “I was a bit hysterical. You just don’t expect that you’re going to go through a pregnancy and a delivery and then hand the baby over to their parents and then all of a sudden find out that there was abuse and neglect going on.”
Arrest warrants were issued for Zhang, Xuan and the 56-year-old nanny, who was not in custody on Wednesday. Zhang and Xuan were detained on suspicion of child endangerment/neglect.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, which removed the couple’s children, declined to comment on the case.
Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell could use “government misconduct” to challenge her imprisonment, her family has claimed.
The 63-year-old, who was jailed in 2022 for luring young girls to massage rooms for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Maxwell’s family have frequently claimed she “did not receive a fair trial”, but legal appeals against her sex trafficking convictions have been rejected by the courts.
The latest challenge from the Maxwell family comes as President Donald Trump faces questions over whether or not he will order the release of the so-called Epstein “client list”, following a backlash from Republican loyalists who have called for any list to be made public.
Ghislaine Maxwell. Pic: US Department of Justice
Judges previously dismissed arguments from Maxwell’s lawyers that she “should never have been prosecuted” because of a “weird” agreement drafted more than 15 years ago.
The family argue that Maxwell should have been protected under an agreement Epstein had entered with the US Department of Justice in 2007, which agreed not to prosecute any of his co-conspirators.
During her trial in 2021, Maxwell was described as “dangerous” by prosecutors, who told jurors about how she would entice vulnerable girls to go to Epstein’s properties for him to sexually abuse.
In a statement, her family said: “Our sister Ghislaine did not receive a fair trial.
“Her legal team continues to fight her case in the courts and will file its reply in short order to the government’s opposition in the US Supreme Court.”
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David Oscar Markus, one of her lawyers, said in the statement released by her family: “I’d be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal.
“He’s the ultimate dealmaker and I’m sure he’d agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it.
“With all the talk about who’s being prosecuted and who isn’t, it’s especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise the US government made and broke.’
“These are sentiments with which we profoundly concur.”
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
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