Kanye West Apologizes For Stolen Designs

Kanye West may be unapologetic about some of his controversial moves. But the Chicago rapper recently apologized to a famous designer over stolen Yeezy sketches.

On Friday (May 4), West took to Twitter to acknowledge the unoriginal work. “Today I learned that a newly hired designer on the Yeezy team presented work that was not of their own. This person has immediately been let go from the Yeezy brand,” he wrote.

Later, West credited Tony Spackman, design director at Givenchy, for the sketches. Apparently, Spackman created them 13 years ago, while he was working at Nike.

“In a moment of inspiration, energy and excitement I had posted this sketch and would like to acknowledge the true creator of this amazing work, Tony Spackman,” added West.

Ever-controversial Kanye is no stranger to digging in the far reaches of the internet for inspiration.  Is Ye just showing his creative process with inspiration images or claiming the work to be his own?  Photoshopping out the title of the sketch in the top left corner is pretty much a dead giveaway lol.  The original by designer @tonyspackman was done in 2005 for a @nike collection called “Living Apparel” which eventually became “Nike React”, a running collection grounded in freedom of movement and human comfort.  Can we just call it Yee💤y now? 😴 • #yeezy #kanyewest #kanye #kimye #theft #inspiration #illustration #design #fashiondesign #sportswear #streetwear #athleisure #nike #streetstyle #running #nikerunning #hypebeast #highsnobiety #snobshots #wiwt #ootd #copycat #knockoff #wtf #dietprada

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A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on May 3, 2018 at 6:19am PDT

Last month, West posted the sketches with part of its original title edited out of the top left-hand corner. “this is where a YEEZY study for base layer starts,” he wrote. “I’m so excited about our new design team. Yeezy is no longer a fashion company we should be referred to as apparel or clothing or simply YEEZY.” The tweet has not been deleted.

Spackman posted Kanye’s tweet on Instagram Stories at the time. “Sorry,” he wrote. “13 year old sketch. Unlucky for some.” Plus, he added a thumbs down emoji.

Last month, West addressed the idea of stolen references on Twitter. “I find myself getting stuck in the idea of originality and letting my ego push me to say things like ‘this person stole this from me’ and the funny thing is it’ll be a reference I took from somewhere,” he wrote.

West has also been critical of Nike in recent weeks. “adidas have been great partners and they’ve let Yeezy be Yeezy,” he tweeted. “This could’ve never happened at Nike.”