Kanye West Accused Of Ripping Off Small Business’ Logo After Meeting With Owners
Image via Liam Goodner / Shutterstock.com
Kanye West is no stranger to controversy, and his latest debacle comes in the form of apparent logo theft on new event merchandise celebrating his recent album, Donda.
Long-sleeved shirts, revealed in a video by HYPEBEAST, show two neutral colors—fitting the artist’s usual palette—with a logo boldly stamped in the middle. Along with the album’s concept of religion, West had chosen a logo of a slightly elongated Star of David with a cross in the middle.
#DONDA MERCH 👀 pic.twitter.com/s28laAKzg7
— HYPEBEAST (@HYPEBEAST) August 5, 2021
“Donda” is declared underneath it, alongside the date of the exclusive album listening event, August 5.
It all looked like a pretty normal design, until a company named Infinity G8ds spoke up.
Its signature logo, splashed across all its own apparel, is uncannily similar.
To make matters worse, this West merch design was released just one week after the two parties had met to discuss a “design process.” The brand had also sent West some examples of its work after he expressed interest in the graphics.
“It’s disappointing,” Randy Dawkins, the brand’s creative director, tells The Daily Beast. “We don’t have any bad vibes or bad feelings toward him, we actually like the dude. But how he handled business? Well, that’s another story.”
“He was like, ‘Bro, I really love your design. It’s really dope. When can I meet you to talk about your process?’” recalls Dawkins, specifying that those were “his exact words.”
In their discussion, West spoke with the team about the meaning behind its logo, grilling it about its thought processes and what it represented to the members. Then, he allegedly ripped off the entire thing.
It’s reported by The Daily Beast that, to Infinity G8ds, the Star of David represents the Bible’s Old Testament while the cross shows the New Testament. The infinity symbol, which West didn’t feature, signifies holding these beliefs in the present.
Considering West’s recent, and highly publicized, journey to spiritual enlightenment, it’s clear to see why this held appeal to him, especially in regard to Donda.
“He started to sell us dreams about doing business with him, and that was the meeting,” Dawkins states. “At the end of the meeting, he told us he was going to keep in contact with us but never did.”
Seeing as the merch had been released and West was now uncontactable, the team took to social media to share their side of the story while knowing there wasn’t much that could be done.
“Our side of the story is, we’re not mad at you, but from one Black artist to another Black artist, he could have said, ‘I see what you got going on, let’s help you gain some exposure, some visibility.’ That’s all we ask,” Dawkins explains.
“We’re not the only victims in this rampage,” he states, adding that he hopes others will come out to share their stories as well. “I feel like there needs to be protection for our small businesses.”
Unsurprisingly, there has been no comment from Kanye West himself.
[via Creative Bloq, cover image via Liam Goodner / Shutterstock.com]
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