Donald, a defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams, and Brown, a winger for the Boston Celtics, announced their decisions in separate statements shared a minute apart on social media. Donald’s statement was released in conjunction with his wife, Erica Donald, who had worked as a marketing manager at Donda Sports.
“As parents and members of society, we felt responsible for sending a clear message that hateful words and actions have consequences and that we must do better as human beings,” the authors wrote. Donald. “We do not believe that our beliefs, voices and actions belong in a space that distorts and oppresses people of any background, ethnicity or race.”
Brown’s departure from Donda Sports came a day after he told the Boston Globe he was staying with the agency. Brown, 26, said on Monday he changed his position after having had more time to discuss with others how “there are times when my voice and my position cannot coexist in spaces that do not correspond to my position or my values”.
“Over the past 24 hours, I have been able to reflect and better understand how my previous statements lack clarity in expressing my position against recent insensitive public remarks and actions,” Brown wrote. “For that, I apologize. And in that, I try to be as clear as possible. I have always, and will always continue to stand firmly against all anti-Semitism, hate speech, misrepresentation and oppressive rhetoric of any kind.
A 24-time Grammy winner who has branched out into a number of business ventures, Ye recently faced huge backlash for posting that he would be going “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE” and wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt to a Fashion Show in Paris for her Yeezy clothing line in partnership with Adidas. In a later podcast appearance, Ye repeated anti-Semitic tropes and claimed that George Floyd died of having fentanyl in his system.
Ahead of Donald and Brown’s statements, Adidas said on Tuesday it was ending the partnership out of intolerance of “anti-Semitism and any other kind of hate speech.”
“Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous,” the German sportswear giant said, “and violate the values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness. company.”
Also among the fallout is the cancellation earlier this month of a scheduled broadcast of Ye’s appearance in a previously taped episode of HBO’s “The Shop.” Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is a co-producer on the show and a frequent contributor to its talks, but he wasn’t part of the shelved episode featuring Ye, according to Maverick Carter, a business partner of longtime James.
“Kanye was booked weeks ago and after speaking directly to Kanye the day before the taping I thought he was able to have a respectful discussion and was ready to respond to any comments he had. lately,” Carter told Andscape. “Unfortunately he used ‘The Shop’ to reiterate more extremely dangerous hate speech and stereotypes.”
Other companies that have moved away from Ye include clothing retailer Gap Inc., fashion house Balenciaga and CAA, his talent agency.
Donald, who helped the Rams win the Super Bowl in February, signed with Donda Sports in May, as did Brown, a key cog in the Celtics’ run to this year’s NBA Finals.
“It was an opportunity that presented itself to us, me and [my wife], and it made sense,” Donald said at the time. “Hearing the full spectrum of everything that’s going on and what they were going to bring, the family atmosphere that they had at Donda Sports, and not just me but my wife being a part of it – for me, that was a non-puzzle.
In Tuesday’s statement, Donald and his wife said Ye’s “recent comments and displays of hate and anti-Semitism are the exact opposite of how we choose to live our lives and raise our children.”
“We find them irresponsible,” they continued, “and go against everything we believe in as a family.”