Kanye West: Adidas Loses Bid To Re-Freeze $75m Held By Yeezy Brand

Kanye West: Adidas Loses Bid To Re-Freeze $75m Held By Yeezy Brand

The long-running spat between Kanye West and adidas has taken an unexpected turn, but it’s actually worked in the controversial rapper’s benefit.

A Manhattan federal judge reportedly rejected adidas’ plea for an emergency order to refreeze $75 million owned by Kanye West’s Yeezy business on Tuesday (May 30), according to court records acquired by Billboard.

Without such a ruling, the German shoe manufacturer, according to its counsel, would suffer “irreparable harm,” but the judge wasn’t persuaded. The court filings stated, “It is hereby ordered that adidas’ motion for a TRO is denied.”

However, even if Tuesday’s decision only rejected the emergency petition, adidas still has a chance to succeed in getting a more traditional order in the coming days that would reimpose an asset freeze on Yeezy.

On that request, briefs from both sides must be submitted by this Thursday, June 1.

adidas broke off business connections with West in October of last year as a result of a number of antisemitic comments he made in interviews and on social media. The business terminated its contract and then issued a statement outlining the circumstances.

The statement added, “adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other form of hate speech.” Ye has recently made remarks and taken acts that are undesirable, dangerous, and against the company’s principles of inclusiveness, respect, and fairness.

“After carefully considering all options, the company has decided to immediately sever its collaboration with Ye, stop making Yeezy-branded products, and stop paying Ye and his enterprises. The adidas Yeezy business will end immediately at adidas.

In the midst of their contentious legal dispute, West asserted that adidas had stopped his bank accounts in an interview with the celebrity news website X17. Unexpectedly, it turned out that he was correct.

According to a Law360 story from last week, Yeezy was unaware that adidas had received legal authorization to freeze almost $100 million in money in November 2022 as a result of the Chicago rapper’s antisemitic comments.

Because the decision was made ex parte, without waiting for a response from the other party, Kanye West was not given the chance to challenge the legal ruling.

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