Petition started for Adidas to drop Kanye West after slavery comments

A petition has been set up calling for Adidas top drop singer Kanye West, after his controversial slavery comments this week.

Kanye, 40, shared his thoughts on how he believed ‘slavery was a choice,’ during an interview with TMZ.

Speaking in the candid interview, the Gold Digger singer said: ‘When you hear about slavery for 400 years … for 400 years? That sounds like a choice,’ which angered and shocked a lot of people.

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‘Like, you was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all? It’s like we’re mentally in prison. I like the word ‘prison’ because slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks. It’s like slavery, Holocaust. Holocaust, Jews. Slavery is blacks. So, prison is something that unites us as one race. Blacks and whites being one race. We’re the human race,’ he went on.

He then asked everyone in the newsroom: ‘Do you feel that I’m feeling – do you feel that I’m being free and I’m thinking free?’ only to have Van Lathan respond with a stinging criticism over the rapper’s decision to brand black slavery ‘a choice’.

He said he was ‘disappointed,’ ‘appalled’, and ‘unbelievably hurt’ by Kanye’s words, which led to a lot of praise for the TMZ staffer.

Now, a petition created by Care2 is calling for the sports brand to drop the singer from their label, who collaborates with them for his Yeezey trainers line, and has already amassed 7,000 signatures from its 10,000 goal.

‘Care2 wants to know if Adidas agrees with Kanye West that slavery in America was a choice,’ the petition description begins.

It goes on: ‘While Kanye can live safely in his multi-million dollar castle, the rest of black America is continually marginalised and subject to unjust laws and treatment. Some even die because this behaviour is so ingrained in our society.’

The details go on to criticise the singer’s relationship with the sporting giant, citing how the trainers he designs cost ‘upwards of $350’ and that he didn’t deserve to be in such a position of privilege when he offended so many people with his words.

Kanye already surprised plenty of people – including his fans – when he went to Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump in 2016, and after declaring his support for the divisive president last week when he wore one of his sloganed ‘Make America Great Again’ red caps.

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