The fallout continues for Kanye West following his recent string of hurtful antisemitic comments.
As we’ve been reporting, the rapper has been dropped by many business partners and collaborators, including Adidas, Balenciaga, Gap, and even his talent agency CAA. Just this week, his sports agency Donda Sports has been losing high-profile pro athlete clients, and a much-anticipated documentary about the Jesus Walks performer was summarily shelved.
Related: Kanye West Is Hurting Children!
Now, the consequences of Ye’s damaging actions are coming for his past musical output, too. On Wednesday, Peloton announced they have banned Ye’s music from future exercise classes and interactive fitness events they hold. The at-home biking brand revealed their decision to scrap Ye in a statement to Pelobuddy, explaining:
“We take this issue very seriously and can confirm Peloton indefinitely paused the use of Kanye West’s music on our platform. This means our instructors are no longer using his music in any newly produced classes and we are not suggesting any class that includes his music in our proactive recommendations to Members.”
The statement, which was first reported yesterday afternoon, comes less than 48 hours after one of Peloton’s most popular cycling instructors called Ye out.
On Monday night, during his Hip Hop Ride class at 7:00 p.m. ET, instructor Alex Toussaint said he would no longer be playing any of Ye’s music in his classes for the tech exercise company. Toussaint didn’t even mention the rapper by name, only declaring he would not play “that artist” in order to better foster a safe space in his classes for Jewish people. Peloton alluded to that move in their Wednesday statement, too. They noted:
“You should know this was a decision we made immediately following [Toussaint’s] remarks. Again, thank you for sharing your concerns and thank you for being a Member of our Peloton community.”
Wow.
And they aren’t the only ones.
On Thursday morning, Billboard reported Apple Music appears to have quietly pulled its Kanye West Essentials Playlist off their music service. The tech giant hasn’t publicly commented about the apparent removal, according to the mag.
Related: Kim Speaks Out Against Hate Speech Amid Kanye’s Antisemitic Behavior
Meanwhile, it sounds like Ye’s music will NOT be pulled from Spotify. At least, not at the behest of the streamer itself. On Tuesday, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek spoke to Reuters about the artist. While Ek said the Chicago native’s antisemitic comments are “awful,” the exec also made it clear that the rapper’s old music does not violate the streaming giant’s anti-hate policies.
Ek said Ye’s hateful words would have been pulled from Spotify if they had been spread on one of the tech company’s own podcasts or recordings. But since the father of four’s old music existed years prior to the awful comments, it’s in a separate situation. Instead, the CEO said it’s up to Universal Music Group‘s Def Jam imprint — which owns Ye’s early catalogue ranging from 2002 through 2016 — as to whether they want to pull his music:
“It’s really just his music, and his music doesn’t violate our policy. It’s up to his label, if they want to take action or not.”
Hmmm…
Def Jam condemned Ye’s commentary, too. However, they stopped short of saying they were going to pull their copyright of his old catalogue from streaming. Their statement to the Hollywood Reporter went like this:
“Def Jam’s relationship with Ye as a recording artist, Def Jam’s partnership with the GOOD Music label venture and Ye’s merchandise agreement with Bravado all ended in 2021. There is no place for antisemitism in our society. We are deeply committed to combating antisemitism and every other form of prejudice.”
So, for now, it sounds like it stays. Lots of licensing and royalty money involved and all that. Is it the right move tho?? Hitting Kanye where it hurts, AKA his wallet, seems to be the only way of getting through to him now as he continues to address losing checks amid his near riot-inciting speech. Like we said (above), and like we keep saying again, and again, and again: actions have consequences. We’ll continue to update you on what’s next…
[Image via Spotify/Peloton/Apple Music/MEGA/WENN]
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