It’s not just Kanye West who lost his lucrative deal with adidas: on the side of Nike, the Swoosh decided to suspend its partnership with Kyrie Irving. Unlike with the case of adidas where they will sell Yeezys (but under a different name presumably), Nike has decided to not sell the Kyrie 8—or at least for the meantime.
Check out Nike’s statement below on why they have decided to suspend its relationship with the troubled NBA star:
At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism. To that end, we’ve made the decision to suspend our relationship with Kyrie Irving effective immediately and will no longer launch the Kyrie 8. We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone
This development follows a similar fate with Kanye: in the case of Irving, it involved him sharing a video that included multiple antisemitic remarks. Irving did apologize for the incident, but he’s facing the consequences of his actions that include being suspended for 5 games in the NBA—and without pay from his team Brooklyn Nets.
Just like with Kanye’s case with the Three Stripes, we saw this coming from Irving, who has been a problematic player in the last few years. Aside from his stong anti-vaxxer stance, Irving even bashed the design of the Kyrie 8, which made sense for Nike to just NOT launch the sneaker. After all, no brand would like to associate themselves with problematic people.
