The rapper’s online store has been removed by Shopify for violating the e-commerce platform’s rules
E-commerce platform Shopify has taken down the online store of US rapper and fashion designer Kanye West after the latter reduced its stock to a single T-shirt featuring a swastika.
The platform, which hosted Yeezy.com, confirmed the removal to US media on Tuesday.
“This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify,” a Shopify representative told the Hollywood Reporter and the Business Insider, without providing an explanation as to which exact rules were violated.
On Monday, West, also known as Ye, aired a 30-second Super Bowl advertisement promoting his website. The store initially offered various merchandise, but by Tuesday the stock had been reduced to a single item, namely a $20 white T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika and labeled ‘HH-01’.
The Anti-Defamation League, a US anti-discrimination advocacy organization, called ‘HH-01’ an apparent reference to the Heil Hitler salute.
Last week, West posted a wave of messages on X declaring himself “a Nazi” and expressing his “love” for Adolf Hitler. The rapper also insisted that “racist stereo types [sic] exist for a reason and they all be true.” Most of the offensive posts targeted the Jewish community and contained various anti-Semitic claims.
Also on Tuesday, a former Yeezy employee filed a lawsuit against West and his company, alleging workplace discrimination and harassment. The lawsuit claims West sent Anti-semitic texts, including messages such as “Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler” and “Hail Hitler.” The plaintiff, who is Jewish, also accused Ye of misogynistic behavior and emotional abuse.
This is not the first time West, a 24-time Grammy Award winner, has faced backlash for anti-Semitic behavior. In 2022, he was suspended from X, then known as Twitter, for similar remarks and lost major partnerships with brands such as Adidas and Gap 18. Earlier this month, Russian fashion designer Gosha Rubchinsky ended his collaboration with Yeezy.
West has publicly spoken about his mental health struggles. In a recent podcast interview, he went back on his previous statements of having bipolar disorder, instead asserting that he is autistic. In 2020, he revealed he used to struggle with alcoholism, describing himself as a “functioning alcoholic.”
