Shopify says Kanye West’s site was removed over fraud potential – not Swastika T-shirt

nme.com:

Kanye West‘s website was taken down due to the potential for fraud – not because it was selling a Swastika T-shirt.That’s according to a leaked internal staff announcement from the Canadian multinational e-commerce company, which was obtained by The Logic.

The message is said to have been sent by general counsel Jess Hertz via Shopify’s Slack account.In it, Hertz said the swastika-emblazoned T-shirt listed for sale by West on his Yeezy store was “a stunt” and “not a good faith attempt to make money”.

She added that the move “brought with it the real risk of fraud”, with this being the main reason that the store was subsequently shut down.Following the removal of the site, Shopify spokesperson Caty Gray said in a public statement that it had closed the Yeezy online shop because the “merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices”.

She explained that this was a violation of the company’s terms.Hertz provided more information in the leaked message. Despite citing the fraud risk as the reason for the closure, she did hit out at West’s swastika T-shirt – calling it “vile, disgusting and inexcusable”.