Balenciaga breaks ties with Kanye West

The fashion house says it 'no longer has any relationship' with the rapper

Kanye West has been in the news after he made a series of anti-Semitic comments. Adidas has severed ties with the rapper. AP

West at the BET Awards 2022 in Los Angeles in June. Reuters

The rapper at the Givenchy spring/summer 2023 fashion show in Paris in October. AFP

West performs at Rolling Loud New York at Citi Field in September. Getty Images / AFP

With his former wife Kim Kardashian at the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards in 2019. AP

West on stage at the Coachella festival in California in 2019. AP

The rapper holds a rally for his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, in July 2020. Reuters

West wears a Make America Great Again cap to meet president Donald Trump in the White House in 2018. AFP

He watches basketball team the Golden State Warriors play the Boston Celtics in March. Photo: USA Today Sports

With Kim Kardashian and basketball player J Cole at the 69th NBA All-Star Game in Chicago in 2020. AFP

West and Julia Fox, who briefly dated him after his split with Kim Kardashian, at Paris Fashion Week. Getty Images

The rapper performs during the closing ceremony for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada. AFP

West and Kim Kardashian with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni in Entebbe. AP

He was a Trump supporter. AP

West on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Los Angeles. AP

He performs at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, in 2010. Rich-Joseph Facun / The National

Running for president in North Charleston. AP

West takes the mic from singer Taylor Swift as she accepts an MTV Video Music Award 2009. He said Beyonce should have won instead. AP Photo

The rapper with his mother Donda in 2007. Getty Images

He arrives for a benefit concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2016. EPA

Balenciaga has ended ties with Kanye West following a recent run of controversial statements, including an outburst denounced as anti-Semitic, according to fashion news site WWD.

"Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist," a representative for Kering, the parent company of the Parisian fashion house, told WWD.

It follows weeks of particularly erratic behaviour from West — now known as Ye.

He made a surprise appearance earlier this month for his brand Yeezy at Paris Fashion Week, sporting the controversial slogan "White Lives Matter", widely considered a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The artist, 45, then lashed out on social media against former colleagues and friends and a leading fashion journalist who criticised the move, including Kering boss Bernard Arnault.

West had already broken off his partnership with Gap last month, with both sides saying they were no longer pulling in the same direction.

Adidas announced earlier this month that it was putting its own tie-up with Kanye "under review".

Balenciaga and Kering did not respond to requests for comment.

Ye appeared as a model in Balenciaga's most recent Paris show, wearing a military-style outfit in a mud pit. Images of him from the show were no longer visible on the Balenciaga website on Thursday.

The rapper has a long-running relationship with Balenciaga's creative director Demna, and they launched a tie-up line of clothing earlier this year.

Ye has been open about having bipolar disorder. A recent Netflix documentary, Jeen-Yuhs, laid bare his ongoing mental health problems.

Ye's recent comments led to his accounts on Twitter and Instagram being restricted.

Earlier this week, he announced he was buying conservative social media platform Parler.

"In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves," he said.