Kanye West Drew Swastika in 2013 Adidas Meeting, Praised Hitler, NY Times Reports Kanye West Report: Drew Swastikas, Praised Hitler Often In Early Adidas Meetings 290 10/27/2023 12:54 PM PT
David Ramirez
Updated on March 06, 2026
Adidas shoulda seen Kanye West's antisemitic rants coming -- during one of his first meetings with the company, 11 years ago, he reportedly drew a swastika on a shoe sketch.
Shortly after signing on with the German sneaker giant in 2013, employees presented a bunch of shoe sketches to Kayne, which he did not like -- and, in response, he picked up a marker and drew a swastika over one of the sketches ... according to a NYT report.
That move shocked everyone in the room, especially because the meeting was reportedly going down close to Nuremberg, where Nazis infamously stood trial for war crimes after WW II.
Kanye set the bar with that move, though, because the NYT report claims, in future meetings, he advised "a Jewish Adidas manager to kiss a picture of Adolf Hitler every day" -- and repeatedly told other Adidas employees what a "master marketer" Hitler was, and praised his "command of propaganda."
Keep in mind, Adidas remained in the Yeezy biz for nearly 10 years, and made a ton of money with Kanye, until last year ... when he started publicly spewing his antisemitic beliefs.
Adidas reportedly tripled Kanye's salary during a 2016 contract negotiation but added a morals clause in the deal -- perhaps because it was, by then, well aware of his affinity for Hitler and the Nazis.
The company used that morals clause to cut all ties with him in 2022 ... which Adidas said would end up costing it a billion dollars in revenue. It also bumped Kanye out of billionaire status.
