The superstar rapper  Kanye West no longer has a place on the Forbes Billionaires’ list 

The American rapper’s net worth drops by almost three-quarters as corporations disassociate themselves from his Yeezy brand over his recent anti-Semitic remarks rapper-cum-fashion entrepreneur Kanye West challenged Adidas to drop him following a weeks-long barrage of anti-Semitic remarks made on social media and in national media appearances. 

“I can say anti-Semitic s—- and Adidas cannot drop me,” said the rapper, who legally now goes by the name “Ye,” on the Drink Champs podcast earlier last month. Ye, who had worked with Adidas since 2013 on his Yeezy line of super-expensive, super-popular sneakers, thought he was untouchable. After all, Adidas gets an estimated 4% to 8% of its sales from Yeezy products, according to investment bank Cowen. For Ye, it was an even bigger deal, accounting for $1.5 billion of his net worth. “With that gone, Ye is no longer a billionaire,” said Forbes magazine. “It caps a stunning, self-induced downfall for one of the brashest and most volatile personalities to have graced Forbes’ pages.” 

Forbes estimates West’s current net worth to be around $400m (£346m) – down from $2bn (£1.7bn).” Losing Adidas was the final nail in Ye’s net-worth coffin”, said Forbes, adding: “Now the road has ended.”

But Ye’s words put the German athletic wear company, with its own Nazi ties dating back to its founders, in the hot seat. What followed was even more escalating pressure on Adidas to sever ties with Ye, as his string of anti-Semitic remarks drew condemnation from the top tiers of Hollywood. For weeks, Adidas stayed silent, except to say on October 6 that their partnership with Ye was “under review.”

The pressure ratcheted up on Adidas after an image was released over the weekend of a banner draped over a Los Angeles highway overpass reading “Kanye was right about the Jews” accompanied by a group of white supremacists giving the Nazi salute to the drivers below. The white supremacists were apparently referring to Ye’s “death con 3 on Jewish people” tweet that got his Twitter account locked; other anti-Semitic remarks got him blocked on Instagram, and thousands upon thousands upon thousands of social media users chorused for Adidas to also drop Ye.

Spotify joins the condemnation bandwagon

Spotify has also openly criticized West’s remarks – but the music streaming platform will not take action against him.

Company chief executive Daniel Ek said the artist’s remarks were “just awful comments”, which would have warranted West’s removal from Spotify for violating its anti-hate policies if they had been said on a podcast or recording.

Since the comments were made on social media, Spotify would only remove the rapper’s music if his label requested it, the company said.

Earlier this month, Ye tweeted to say he was “going death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE” before alleging he was not “Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also”. 

Since then, West has seen his Instagram and Twitter accounts restricted, an end to his banking relationship with JP Morgan, the termination of his collaboration with Balenciaga fashion house, and a completed documentary about him shelved – and the list of corporations condemning his words continues to grow. 
In an indirect tweet to her ex-husband on Monday, Kim Kardashian wrote: “Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end”.