Kanye West allegedly showed Kim Kardashian's nudes, sex videos to ex-Yeezy staff: report
Kanye West allegedly showed porn to former Yeezy employees in the office—including explicit photos and videos of ex-wife Kim Kardashian—according to an exposé.
In a Rolling Stone's report published Nov. 23, about a month after adidas and other major brands canceled West, a dozen ex-employees recalled how he used intimidation tactics that were provocative, frequently sexualized, and often directed toward women.
In 2018, a young creative who met with West for a job interview in Chicago recalled the musician "dancing around to his own music on full blast." He, then, reportedly pulled out his phone and told the creative, "My wife just sent me this."
“It was very revealing and personal,” the creative is quoted as saying. “I didn’t really react.”
West also reportedly showed an explicit video of Kardashian to Yeezy's creative team at least one other time that same year, recalled another source. While another former staffer, when asked to confirm whether Kardashian's nudes were indeed shown to them, said West is "not afraid to show explicit images or talk about situations that should be kept private.”
A spokesperson for Kardashian did not respond to multiple requests for comment, Rolling Stone noted.
In 2013, a former collaborator who went to West's home for business recalled him showing hardcore porn instead of anything resembling work. Two other creatives also claimed West showed them his homemade sex tapes with women.
“At the time I found it odd but in line with his persona as an edgy artist,” the former collaborator is quoted as saying. “Now, seeing it within a larger pattern, I feel it was a tactic to break a person down and establish their unwavering allegiance to him, testing and destroying people’s boundaries.”
The report also detailed how West treated employees and how he was "playing mind games" with them according to a former staffer.
For instance, he praised some employees while belittling others, though he'd publicly supported them before.
A former staffer also recalled how he made a young female designer of color sit on the floor for a meeting that lasted hours. West said the designer doesn't "deserve to sit at the table," the staffer recalled.
There was also an instance when West yelled when a pair of Yeezy weren't up to his standards. He approached a senior female employee, looked down at her foot, stared up at her, and said, “I want you to make me a shoe I can fuck.”
Prominent ex-Yeezy team members also penned an open letter to adidas executives, Rolling Stone reported. In the letter, they called out adidas executives for being aware of West's "problematic behavior" but "turned their moral compass off."
This allowed an "abusive officer culture" to foster, they said.
“As much as we all would love to solely blame Kanye,” the letter states as quoted by Rolling Stone, “the undeniable truth is that the Adidas executive team and the board have been huge enablers.”
“Difficult moments happened, with executives in the room—VP level or higher—and nothing would be done," a former staffer also said. "You’d still show up to work the next day."
West has yet to comment on the Rolling Stone report.