Both Nike and Adidas stopped working with celebrity partners over antisemitic comments and actions—but was it quick enough?

In recent months, two celebrities—Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Kyrie Irving—have seen their brand deals take a hit after antisemitic public statements and actions. Adidas and Nike were two of those brands, having made lucrative deals with the rapper and Brooklyn Nets player, respectively.

Experts told us the manner and speed with which each brand responded could impact their image going forward.

To recap the Ye saga:

• In early October, Ye made a series of anti-Black and antisemitic statements on podcasts, TV, and social media that led to his Twitter and Instagram accounts being temporarily locked.
• Balenciaga cut ties with Ye on October 21.
• On October 25, Gap said it was “taking immediate steps” to remove all Yeezy Gap products from its shelves and shutter yeezygap.com. (In September, Ye said he had ended his partnership with the retailer.)
• That same day, Adidas announced it too had officially severed ties with Ye, whose partnership was valued at around $1.5 billion according to Forbes, following weeks of public pressure to do so.

Mark DiMassimo, founder and creative chief of creative agency DiGo, told Marketing Brew it was a mistake for Adidas to wait as long as it did to announce it would no longer be working with Ye while working out the details internally.

“They could have said immediately that this is unacceptable to us,” DiMassimo said. “Of course, there would have been a cost, but it was a foregone conclusion.”

But “acting like a corporation rather than a person” and waiting to act, he said, was “certainly not great for their momentum” and “not great for their business.” Before Adidas ended its relationship with the rapper, the hashtag #BoycottAdidas trended on Twitter, though it’s not clear if or to what extent talks of a boycott impacted the company’s decision.

According to Adidas’s statement, the short-term impact of the termination will have an impact of up to $256 million on net income this year. The brand more recently announced plans to continue selling the Yeezy sneaker line under a different name.

Gregg Morton, founder and CEO of brand engagement firm Fooji, told us in an email from spokesperson Lauren Hovey that “by being slow to react, slow to action, and slow to condemnation, Adidas puts themselves at great risk of fracturing the public’s trust.”

In contrast, DiMassimo said Nike “fairly quickly…and decisively” suspended its relationship with Irving. On October 27, Irving tweeted a link to and posted an Instagram Story about a film containing antisemitic themes like Holocaust denial. On November 3, the Nets suspended him after he repeatedly declined to give a yes or no answer after being asked if he had antisemitic beliefs and to “acknowledge specific hateful material in the film.” Nike announced it had suspended its deal with him on November 4.

“People would rather have something definitive done for now than wait for an all-time decision,” DiMassimo said.

Thinking ahead: Morton noted that “there is an elevated risk compared to the pre-social media era.” However, he added that people often have a short memory—something sources also told us earlier this year around the potential risks of Super Bowl partnerships.

“Both brands are well established and have decades of trust and loyalty built up,” Morton said. “Both eventually made the right move, and in a matter of weeks that is what consumers will remember, not their delayed response.”