Kanye West’s Fashion Brand Yeezy Has Website Shut Down After Reducing Stock to Nazi T-shirt – Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterShopify said that the brand has violated its terms; meanwhile, a former Yeezy staffer filed a suit claiming West sent antisemitic and misogynistic texts.
By
Kevin Dolak
The company hosting and fulfilling orders for Yeezy.com has removed the brand’s website after the streetwear and footwear brand, owned by Kanye West, reduced its online shop to a single T-shirt with a Nazi swastika emblazoned on the front, a representative for the brand’s hosting platform confirmed.
Shopify, the host of West’s successful brand’s ecommerce website, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement about the removal on Tuesday morning that following the addition of the swastika shirt, the brand violated policy.
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“All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify,” a spokesperson for Shopify said.
The platform’s rep did not explain which rules of Shopify’s terms were violated. The website hosting and ecommerce platform’s terms of service declare that Shopify will act “to restrict products or activities that we deem unsafe, inappropriate or offensive.” Yeezy.com now sends users to a blank webpage reading “Something went wrong” and “Store not available.”
On Sunday night, Yeezy bought Super Bowl ad time in local markets, and a confounding, short spot for the brand aired toward the big game’s conclusion. In the clip, which West seems to have shot himself on an iPhone’s front-facing camera, he wears sunglasses while lying down in his dentist’s chair. “I spent like all the money for the commercial on these new teeth,” he says, showing off his diamond-encrusted chompers. “Once again I had to shoot it on the iPhone. Um … um … Go to Yeezy.com.”
On Sunday night, when the ad aired to a massive audience, Yeezy.com featured the expected apparel and music for sale on CD and vinyl. But on Monday morning, the sole item for sale on Yeezy.com was a white T-shirt with a black Nazi swastika emblazoned on the front; the cost is $20.
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to a rep for Yeezy about the T-shirt and website on Tuesday morning but did not immediately hear back.
Also on Tuesday, a former Yeezy employee named as a “Jane Doe” filed a lawsuit naming the company and West, who also goes by Ye, claiming she was subjected to discrimination, harassment and retaliation because of her gender and Jewish religion.
The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, contains multiple documented text messages to Doe and other employees using the terms “Nazi,” “Hitler,” “bitch,” “deathcon” and more, according to release about the filing sent to The Hollywood Reporter. It also states that West’s recent social media tirades against Jewish people and stunt on the Grammys red carpet, where his wife, Bianca Censori, dropped her long coat to reveal an essentially nude look, have placed his behavior — which the release says has been blamed on his autism, alcoholism and mental illness — in a new light.
“Ye waged a relentless and deliberate campaign of antisemitism and misogyny against my client. His appalling treatment of women and fixation on Nazism, evident in abusive texts where he repeatedly calls himself Hitler, expose his motives. We need to stop excusing Ye’s behavior. As a father, husband and employer, he must be held accountable. Ye dared my client to sue and we will see him in court,” Doe’s attorney, Carney Shegerian of Shegerian & Associates, said in a statement.
Doe originally agreed to work with West in 2023 in marketing his work after he had posted a lengthy apology to the Jewish community on his Instagram, in Hebrew, for his deeply damaging antisemitic remarks, which had cost him and Yeezy a lucrative deal with Adidas. Having given West the benefit of the doubt, she soon found herself a victim of his antisemitic and misogynistic language and attitude, the release states.
When Doe suggested West release another statement denouncing Nazism and affirming he has no affiliation after his recent Vultures 1 album art was connected to the Nazi aesthetic, West allegedly told her, “I am a Nazi.” At one point, West texted Doe and other persons of Jewish descent: “Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler,” and West directly texted Doe: “Hail Hitler,” “shut the f— up bitch,” “you ugly as f—,” “you stupid ass corny bitch,” “you piece of shit,” “you’re trash,” “f— you bitch,” “you a 4 after all the make-up” and “now sue me you corny ass bitch,” according to the suit.
Doe is pursuing legal action for damages against him for economic, compensatory, non-economic (i.e. emotional distress and humiliation) and punitive damages.Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every daySign up for THR news straight to your inbox every daySubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSend us a tip using our anonymous form.
