The rapper and fashion designer responded to this on Instagram, where he claimed that the company had “stolen” his designs. A spokesman for the German company said that “the Adidas Yeezy partnership is one of the most successful in the history of the industry.” In the post he uploaded to Instagram, West also used a harsh derogatory word, and wrote I AM ADIDAS. The slogan Black Lives Matter, which represents opposition to racism and police violence, was used a lot around the George Floyd affair – an unarmed black American who was strangled to death by police officers in Minneapolis in the summer of 2020.
Gabriela Carifa-Johnson of Vogue magazine was among those who criticized West for the shirt, calling the move “very irresponsible.” In response, West slammed Johnson and posted photos of her in front of his 17.9 million followers, in which he mocks her appearance. Vogue reported that the magazine “stands by Carifa Johnson. She was attacked and experienced bullying personally. This is unacceptable. Today more than ever, voices like hers are needed, and in a private meeting with West held today, she repeated her words, on her own terms.”