THOUSAND OAKS (News4usonline) – The main topic of discussion for Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald should have been the San Francisco 49ers. Instead, what dominated Donald’s weekly conversation with the media via a press conference was his association with and disassociation from Kanye West.
“Obviously, things were said that me and my family don’t agree with so we just decided to part ways,” Donald quipped.
West, better known as Ye these days, has been all the rage in the last several weeks with one outlandish antic after another. Actually, West has been at it for years, starting with his mind-boggling comment that slavery for Black Americans was a “choice” back in 2018 during an interview with TMZ. It’s been one circus ride for Ye and the public since then.
Yet somehow and someway, despite so much controversy around him, West has been able to snag a whole gamut of endorsement deals over the years, catapulting him into billionaire status. With a new level of clout, West launched Donda Sports. Donald, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and an eight-time All-Pro, was the first athlete to sign on to Donda Sports.
That relationship has dissolved largely in part to West’s latest round of shock value comments aimed without an apologetic filter towards the Jewish community. West’s hate-filled rants were enough for Donald and his family to sever ties with Donda Sports and the rap mogul.
“Me and my wife talked about some things and obviously seeing what came out, we decided to part ways,” Donald said.
Disassociation from Ye or West seems to be a running theme now. Corporate sponsors such as the Gap, Foot Locker, Peloton, T.J. Maxx, Balenciaga, and Adidas have all kicked Ye to the curb.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” the company said in a released statement.
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. adidas will stop the adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”
With sponsors all around dropping West like a bad habit, Donald and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics were left with little choice but to move on in order to keep their names and brands in good standing. As for West, the unwanted racial targeting and mocking of a particular ethnic group is nothing new.
West went over the top by playing the race card with his “White Lives Matter” t-shirt that he wore during Paris Fashion Week, a clear slap in the face to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Donald was asked why did he decide to align himself with Donda Sports in the first place considering some of the degrading comments and actions West has made over the years about Black Americans.
“I really don’t want to speak on that because I kind of put it out,” Donald said. “Whatever we put out on Tuesday, it’s just a situation where a lot of things were going on that I felt weren’t in the best interest of my family or what we got going on and what we believe in, so I think it was best for us to just go our separate ways.”
When asked if he had learned anything from this situation, Donald was blunt in his reply.
“Obviously my wife, she still does my marketing. She does a great job with that,” Donald said. “She’s going to continue to do that. Nothing changed from that standpoint and that’s where it’s at.”
Finally, the conversation moved to football. The first time the Rams and Donald played the 49ers, San Francisco got the best of them with a 24-9 win. Coming off a bye week, this is a big game for Donald and the Rams. The Rams have a .500 record at 3-3 and now square up against an NFC West Division opponent, a team they beat to get to the Super Bowl.
“The past is the past,” Donald remarked. “Obviously, they got us the first game this year. It’s about just playing good football for four quarters, finding a way to win a game, being stout in the run, obviously getting out (of) the stack in certain screens, tackling, wrapping up, little things that we can do to correct that. I felt like the first time we faced them this year (there) was one or two plays that we wish we would’ve got back, eliminates being able to have to say that. So, that’s on us as a defense. If we know what we got to do, we got to swarm, we got to tackle and if we do that, we’ll be fine.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.