Celebrity
Kanye Allegedly Showed Explicit Photos & Videos Of Kim K To Yeezy Employees
A letter obtained by Rolling Stone from Yeezy employees to Adidas executives alleges years of misconduct at the company.
Trigger Warning: the following story contains explicit, inappropriate conduct in a professional setting.
A few weeks after Adidas officially cut ties with Kanye “Ye” West and his Yeezy brand, more details about the former working relationship between the rapper-turned-designer and the German sportswear brand have been revealed.
A Rolling Stone report published on Nov. 22 details that West allegedly used porn and revealing images of then-wife Kim Kardashian as an “intimidation tactic” against the Yeezy staffers. In a letter to the Adidas executives obtained by Rolling Stone, the former shoe brand employees laid out the unprofessionalism that they encountered from their celebrity boss. “Former Yeezy and Adidas staffers and creative collaborators claim that he 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,” the outlet reported.
One creative recalled a 2018 job interview in which West pulled out his phone to show them a “very revealing and personal” intimate photo of Kardashian. At least one other employee confirmed they were shown an explicit video of Kardashian in 2018, though the behavior reportedly continued beyond that year. “He’s not afraid to show explicit images or talk about situations that should be kept private,” an employee said. Bustle reached out to West and Kardashian’s representatives for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
Three former creatives associated with the brand confirmed to Rolling Stone that West had shown them pornographic videos, whether professional or homemade featuring himself and passed them off as part of the creative process. “He would be in a meeting and he’d be talking to you, and he’d rattle off in his laptop,” one employee recalled, adding that they had seen him play these videos in meetings at least five times. “And he’s like, ‘I know it’s uncomfortable, but I kind of need this in the background to keep me focused.’ And you’d be like, ‘Uhhhhh, oh-kay.’”
Many accounts reported that West wanted to create a shoe that “he literally wanted to f*ck.” West later released a 30-minute documentary that appears to corroborate these allegations, as he is shown playing porn for Adidas executives in the film.
In 2019, West shared that he had an addiction to porn in an appearance on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music podcast. “Some people drown themselves in drugs, and I drown myself in my addiction — sex,” he said at the time. Though he publicly tried to portray an air of spirituality during the Donda years, a former senior member of the team refuted that fact. “The oversexualized behavior has been consistent since the beginning. I don’t know that it ever went away,” they said.
