(James Alcock)
It appears Kanye West’s personal politics have begun affecting his brand as a Sydney, Australia event scheduled to celebrate the release of Yeezy Season 6 was canceled Saturday.
Why? According to The Sydney Morning Herald, fans failed to show up as expected to 2XU’s event May 5.
The collaboration with the Australian sportswear brand was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. that day. 2XU had staff on hand early to prepare for crowds they thought would be lining up to buy $550 neoprene leggings and the $500 bike shorts — deemed “Suba tights” and “Scuba shots” respectively. But after 45-minutes and customers failing to show, the store shut down the event.
“There’s been a change of direction from head office and unfortunately the event has been canceled,” a representative told Fairfax Media.
And things didn’t fare better online, either.
By Saturday evening, the newspaper reported leggings and shorts were still readily available despite a press release promising that “fans will have to be quick, with a strictly limited number of pieces from the collection available to the public.”
The hashtag #yeezyx2xu was only used 10 times on Instagram and by Tuesday, it had increased to 43 times. Still, there is one promising aspect for West. While the leggings and shorts were still plentiful over the weekend, by Tuesday, the Yeezy x 2XU website showed both items were sold out.
Still, fans are displeased by West’s recent behavior — from his ardent support of President Donald Trump to his claim that slavery sounds “like a choice” — those who last year rushed to the store the night before to nab the latest Yeezy gear have abandoned the rapper’s brand.
Online, commenters were brutal upon hearing the news about the failed event, to which West has not responded.
“Kanye West and 2XU event canceled at last minute in Sydney. Nobody showed up for his clothing line debut,” someone tweeted. “I told y’all that Kanye cannot dishonor our kidnapped African ancestors and think he will be successful. Anybody taking bets on when Kanye is going to apologize?”
@kanyewest Yo, I heard your 2XU event was a massive success. Oh wait… sorry bruh. pic.twitter.com/6R45u59WLQ
— EenyMemeyMinyMo (@EenyMemeyMinyMo) May 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/AT_Tunechi/status/993589411467186176
