Amid the many controversies surrounding Kanye West right now, especially in regard to his antisemitic remarks, his sports company, Donda Sports, has lost two major athletes as they both terminated their marketing contract with the company.
Back in May of this year, Aaron Donald, the Los Angeles Ram All-Pro defense tackle, signed on to Ye’s company, breaking the news on I Am Athlete. At that time he explained his reasoning for joining the company saying,
“It was an opportunity that came to us, me and [my wife], and it made sense. Hearing the whole spectrum of what they were going to be bringing, the whole family atmosphere that they got in Donda Sports. Not just me, but my wife being a part of that. For me it was a no-brainer.”
Donald was hoping that signing with the company would “open a lot of different doors” for him and his family outside of football, but given Ye’s recent antisemitism-fuelled rants, the pro footballer feels like he can no longer stay with the company. He walked away from Donda Sports on Tuesday, posting a statement on Twitter that read, “the recent comments and displays of hate and antisemitism are the exact opposite of how we choose to live our lives and raise our children.”
Another of Donda Sports’ athletes, pro-basketballer Jaylen Brown, also cut ties with Ye’s company after initially stating he would stay on board, changing his mind in less than a day. Brown initially denounced Ye’s comments but said he would stay on board as an ambassador for the company, citing his initial reasons for signing on,
“the reason why I signed with Donda Sports, it represented education, it represented activism, disruption, it represented single-parent households, and a lot more people are involved in something like that.”
However, having had more time to think about it, and likely from mounting public pressure, the athlete also chose to part ways with the company. He aimed to further enforce that he denounces any form of hate speech, writing “I have always, and will always, continue to stand strongly against any antisemitism, hate speech, misrepresentation, and oppressive rhetoric of any kind.”
This all happened on the same day that Adidas also dropped Ye after mounting public pressure as the artist faces a huge backlash for his controversial statements. Ye has been known to make these kinds of statements before such as implying that African-American slavery was a “choice” as well as his recently sporting a t-shirt that had the racially charged “White Lives Matter” phrase printed on it.
It would seem that his comments towards the Jewish community were the straw that broke the camel’s back, with multiple companies no longer working with him now or in the foreseeable future. Regardless of West’s mental health issues, these are actions and words that cannot be ignored and people are no longer willing to put up with them.