Peloton Drops Kanye West’s Music From New Classes

October 28, 2022 Topic: Kanye West Region: United States Blog Brand: Politics Tags: Kanye WestYePelotonAntisemitismWall Street Journal

Peloton Drops Kanye West’s Music From New Classes

Pelo Buddy, a Peloton fan site, reported this week that those reaching out to Peloton to ask if Ye’s music will still be featured have been told it will not. 

Ye, the rapper and entrepreneur formerly known as Kanye West, has lost several endorsement deals and business relationships, including from the likes of Adidas, Gap, and Foot Locker, following a series of antisemitic remarks. Now, his music has been dropped from new classes by Peloton. 

Pelo Buddy, a Peloton fan site, reported this week that those reaching out to Peloton to ask if Ye’s music will still be featured have been told it will not. 

“Thank you for sharing your concerns. We take this issue very seriously and can confirm Peloton indefinitely paused the use of Kanye West’s music on our platform,” said a communication from the company. “This means our instructors are no longer using his music in any newly produced classes and we are not suggesting any class that includes his music in our proactive recommendations to Members. You should know this was a decision we made immediately following his remarks. Again, thank you for sharing your concerns, and thank you for being a Member of our Peloton community.” The company confirmed to CNN that the message was authentic. 

That does not mean that the rapper’s music will be pulled from older classes. Peloton instructor Alex Toussaint, during a “45 min Hip-Hop Ride” had announced his intention to no longer include the artist’s music in his classes. 

“Because I love everybody, I want to make sure everybody feels safe in my environment and my classes. I’m not even going to speak too much on it because you know I stand with you, you will not hear that artist in my class at all, I promise y’all. I do not support hate speech whatsoever, baby. I don’t tolerate that …  at all, alright? You will not hear that artist in my class, I promise you.”

The announcement follows a year of bad news for Peloton, including plunging stock and multiple rounds of layoffs. The company has outsourced manufacturing, while also allowing its products to be sold on Amazon for the first time ever. “There comes a point in time when we’ve either been successful or we have not,” Peloton chief executive Barry McCarthy told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “If we don’t grow … We need to grow to get the business to a sustainable level.” McCarthy backed off the sentiment later that day.

“I joined Peloton for the comeback story, not to sell the business. And today the business is fundamentally more sound than ever and on the right path, so to be clear, there is no timeclock nipping at our heels. If my comments to the WSJ suggested otherwise, then I misspoke, as that is simply not true,” he said. 

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters.