Aaron Donald ends his partnership with Kanye West’s Donda Sports after antisemitic comments

Los Angeles Rams All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald has ended his marketing deal with Kanye West’s Donda Sports, Donald announced Tuesday. The decision comes after West made several anti-Semitic comments which led to the rapper being brought down by several major corporations.

Donald announced in May He joined Donda Sports, which West founded and named after his late mother. Donda Sports only represented Donald in his marketing deals.

The full statement from Donald and his wife Erica is below:

“Our family has made the decision to separate from Donda Sports. The recent comments and displays of hate and anti-Semitism are the opposite of how we choose to live our lives and raise our children. We find them irresponsible and opposed to everything we believe as a family.

“As parents and members of society, we felt a responsibility to send a clear message that hateful words and actions have consequences and we must do better as human beings. We don’t feel that our beliefs, our voices and our actions belong anywhere near a space that skews and oppresses people of any background or race. or sweat.

“We have had the pleasure of working with so many wonderful people along the way and hope to continue using our platform to uplift and support families, children and other communities through positive outreach.”

Boston Celtics goalkeeper Jaylene Brown, too announced tuesday That he was terminating his association with Donda Sports.

Donald was the only known player in the NFL to sign with Donda. Free agent wide receiver Antonio Brown was named president of Donda Sports in February.

The 24-time Grammy-winning rapper wrote on Twitter earlier this month that he was going to “die [sic] Con 3” on the Jewish people. He wore ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirts and had previously said slavery was a choice.

On Tuesday, Adidas ditched West over his remarks. The brand has partnered with West since 2016, and dissolving the partnership could cost the brand as much as $246 million, according to the company.

“Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other type of hate speech,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. “Yi’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous, and violate the company’s values ​​of diversity, inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

Donald told the “I’m An Athlete” podcast in May that the partnership with West and Donda Sports was “a great opportunity to open a lot of different doors.”

“It was an opportunity that came to us, me and [my wife]It made sense,” Donald told the podcast. Hear the full spectrum of what they’re going to bring, the whole family vibe they got at Donda Sports. Not only me, but my wife is part of that. For me it was a no-brainer.”

In an interview with Piers Morgan last week, he dropped West Donald’s name in a rambling defense of his anti-Semitic comments and what he would require of an apology.

“When I sit with people who write NBA contracts, NFL contracts, professional music and acting contracts,” West said. “We need to go to top lawyers, chief executives, stadium owners, football team owners, music record company owners, and we’ll put them all in one room. And we’re going to read every…Go to the top ten in each of those categories. Let’s read a contract. Michael B. Jordan. Let’s read Aaron Donald’s contract…”

Morgan cut west at that point and the two shouted back and forth. West asked to complete what he called a “great idea”. He went on to say that he wanted to compare and contrast the best contracts in the NFL, NBA and the music industry on a live platform with a high-profile legal team.

“After that moment happens, I’ll say I’m sorry,” West concluded.