Kanye West is bursting with creative energy as of late, with two albums, a book and more designs for his Yeezy line in the works. On Sunday, he excitedly shared a sketch from a member of his design team, but by Friday (May 4), the mogul learned that the design was originally by former Nike designer Tony Spackman and gave credit where it was due.
West tweeted to clarify the situation after he was accused of stealing the design on Thursday. Spackman, current design director of Givenchy, took to Instagram Stories and posted his original image with the caption “Sorry, 13 year old sketch…unlucky for some,” followed by a thumbs-down emoji.
Tony Spackman, former designer for Nike pic.twitter.com/gyK9xjCkkU
— Robert Gutierrez Jr (@robgutierrezjr) May 3, 2018
‘Ye followed up to explain that “a newly hired designer on the Yeezy team presented work that was not of their own.” Whoever nabbed the photo must have found it through Spackman’s website and photoshopped out the original title, which noted that the image was an athletic comfort study for a Nike Fall 2005 collection.
The 40-year-old rapper also shared that the plagiarizing designer was immediately let go, before acknowledging Spackman as “the true creator of this amazing 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.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 4, 2018
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.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 4, 2018