Category: Новини

Adidas is set to update investors Friday about the unsold Yeezy shoes that have put the German sportswear giant in a predicament since it cut ties with Kanye West over his antisemitic comments late last year.

Executives are expected to tackle the issue when the company reports first-quarter results Friday which will likely show a 4% decline in net sales to $5.07 billion, according to a company-compiled consensus.

Investors have high hopes new CEO Bjorn Gulden can turn Adidas around: the stock has gained around 65% since Nov. 4 when the former Puma CEO was first floated as a successor to Kasper Rorsted, despite Adidas warning it could make a $700 million loss this year if it writes the Yeezy shoes off entirely.

Adidas has been in discussions over the footwear, including with people who “have been hurt” by West’s antisemitic comments, Gulden said in March, but there are no easy fixes.

The value of Yeezy shoes in the resale market has rocketed since Adidas stopped producing them, with some models more than doubling in price, but the company has yet to decide what to do with its unsold stock.

If Adidas decides to sell the shoes, any proceeds should go towards efforts to fight antisemitism, said Holly Huffnagle, U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism at the American Jewish Committee, a non-governmental organization.

“The challenge is if these shoes are going to be out there and be worn by people, we must ensure that the antisemitic messaging of the shoes’ creator doesn’t spread,” she said.

Gulden in March said the company could donate the proceeds of the Yeezy sale to charities, but Adidas has given no updates since. “We continue to evaluate options for the use of the existing Yeezy inventory,” an Adidas spokesperson said, declining to comment on the possible timeline for a decision.

The market would welcome a resolution, but it may be too early given the complexities involved, said Geoff Lowery, analyst at Redburn in London, who sees a donation to charities as the most likely outcome.

The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in New York, told Reuters it “stands ready and prepared to work with Adidas.”

Adidas in November donated more than $1 million to the organization.

The American Jewish Committee met with Adidas executives in December to discuss their commitment to reject antisemitism.

Adidas said it continues to “stand with the Jewish community in the fight against antisemitism and with all communities around the world facing injustice and discrimination.”

Shareholders want Adidas to draw a line under the Yeezy episode and develop ways to reboot the brand.

“Being successful with Yeezy probably made Adidas lazy on finding other growth drivers,” said Cedric Rossi, nextgen consumer analyst at Bryan Garnier in Paris.
…

The fountain pen is a writing instrument declared obsolete numerous times by technological innovations — the ballpoint pen, the typewriter, the computer keyboard, and now by rendering our voices into text on mobile phones. But the 19th-century invention is still evolving, thanks in part to an American mechanical engineer. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman reports from Philadelphia.
…

The recording studios at Afghanistan national radio and television where generations of male and female musicians and singers produced songs and melodies have gone silent for nearly two years.

The country’s Islamist Taliban regime does not air music on the national broadcasting network because their extreme interpretation of Islam considers it forbidden. Instead, they run so-called singsongs, which sound like chants with no music.

Known as the Taliban songs and nasheeds, the singsongs, voiced only by men, are mostly tributes to Taliban leaders, Islamic jihad and Afghanistan as a graveyard of foreign interventionists.

Many Taliban listen to these singsongs on their phones, in their cars and elsewhere as a source of entertainment, attachment and inspiration.

“Since the Taliban are religious zealots, they use songs for entertainment as well. It’s a form of competition for young Taliban to show off their voices. Songs are also designed to add some pleasure to an otherwise puritanical way of life,” said Wahed Faqiri, an Afghan analyst.

“[The Taliban] play it on radios and so, if you are in your car at that time and it’s on the radio, you listen to it because it’s kind of a captive/trapped audience,” Ali Latifi, a Kabul-based independent journalist, told VOA by email. “When I see Taliban playing them it’s usually on their phones (even little Nokia ones) while they’re standing or walking down the street (less often).”

Since the Taliban’s ascent to power in Afghanistan, the group’s singsongs have increasingly found their way to digital platforms where they are accessible to global audiences. Social media companies often prohibit official Taliban accounts and groups, but the group’s sympathizers have maintained a presence under pseudonyms.

Given the group’s longstanding disapproval of television, pro-Taliban songs loaded to YouTube carry only still images of Taliban leaders and symbols. During their first reign in 1994-2001, the Taliban completely banned television and the group’s morality police broke down private TV sets and displayed them on poles to deter the public from watching television even in their homes.

As an insurgent group, the Taliban ran sophisticated digital propaganda campaigns including videos of violent attacks on Afghan and foreign soldiers.

‘Genocide of music’

The Taliban’s swift return to power in 2021 saw an exodus of artists, singers, musicians and journalists from Afghanistan.

Over the past 20 months, about 3,000 artists and singers have sought relocation outside Afghanistan, according to Artistic Freedom Initiative, an organization that offers free immigration and resettlement assistance for artists at risk.

The country’s National Institute of Music (ANIM) has been closed as all of its trainers, students and personnel were evacuated to Europe in 2021.

“We are witnessing a termination of the rich musical heritage of Afghanistan,” Ahmad Sarmast, ANIM director, told VOA while describing the many ways musicians and artists suffer under the Taliban rule.

While most popular Afghan musicians and singers reside abroad, those left in the country have reportedly quit music and have resorted to other jobs.

Sarmast said his ANIM staff and other artists are trying to keep the Afghan music alive in exile by organizing concerts and events in different parts of the world.

For many Afghans caught in recurring cycles of brutal wars, extreme and widespread poverty, and many social and cultural restrictions, music is a source of spiritual strength and a means to mental and psychological healing, experts say.

“The Taliban’s anti-music policies are turning Afghans into a mentally impaired nation,” warned Sarmast, who said the Taliban’s singsongs are praising and promoting violence.

A Taliban spokesperson received VOA’s request for comment on the regime’s policies about music but did not respond.
…

Hollywood writers picketing to preserve pay and job security outside major studios and streamers braced for a long fight at the outbreak of a strike that immediately forced late-night shows into hiatus, put other productions on pause and had the entire industry slowing its roll.  

The first Hollywood strike in 15 years commenced Tuesday as the 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America stopped working when their contract expired.  

The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and less exclusivity on single projects, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom of the streaming era.  

“Everything’s changed, but the money has changed in the wrong direction,” said Kelly Galuska, 39, a writer for “The Bear” on FX and “Big Mouth” on Netflix, who picketed at Fox Studios in Los Angeles with her 3-week-old daughter. “It’s a turning point in the industry right now. And if we don’t get back to even, we never will.” 

The last Hollywood strike, from the same union in 2007 and 2008, took three months to resolve. With no talks or even plans to talk pending between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios and productions companies, there is no telling how long writers will have to go without pay, or how many major productions will be delayed, shortened or scrapped.  

“We’ll stay out as long as it takes,” Josh Gad, a writer for shows including “Central Park” and an actor in films including “Frozen,” said from the Fox picket line.  

The AMPTP said in a statement that it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals” and was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon.” 

The writers were well aware that a stoppage was likely. Yet the breakoff of contractual talks hours before a deadline that negotiations in previous years have sailed past for hours or even days, and the sudden reality of a strike, left some surprised, some worried, some determined.  

“When I saw the refusals to counter and the refusing to even negotiate by the AMPTP, I was like on fire to get out here and stand up for what we deserve,” Jonterri Gadson, a writer whose credits include “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” said on a picket line at Amazon Studios as she held a sign that read, “I hate it here.”  

All of the top late-night shows, which are staffed by writers that pen monologues and jokes for their hosts, immediately went dark. NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live,” CBS’ “The Late Show” and NBC’s “Late Night” all made plans for reruns through the week. 

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which had been scheduled to air a new episode Saturday, will also go dark and air a rerun, and the two remaining episodes in the season are in jeopardy.  

The strike’s impact on scripted series and films will likely take longer to notice — though some shows, including Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” have already paused production on forthcoming seasons.  

If a strike persisted through the summer, fall TV schedules could be upended. In the meantime, those with finished scripts are permitted to continue shooting.  

Union members also picketed in New York, where less known writers were joined by more prominent peers like playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner (“The Fabelmans”) and “Dopesick” creator Danny Strong. 

Some actors including Rob Lowe joined the picket lines in support in Los Angeles. Many striking writers, like Gad, are hybrids who combine writing with other roles.  

Speaking from his acting side, Gad said of his fellow writers, “We are nothing without their words. We have nothing without them. And so it’s imperative that we resolve this in a way that benefits the brilliance that comes out of each of these people.” 

The other side of his hyphenated role could be in the same space soon, with many of the same issues at the center of negotiations for both the actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America. Contracts for both expire in June.  

Streaming has exploded the number of series and films that are annually made, meaning more jobs for writers. But writers say they’ve been made to make less under shifting and insecure conditions that the WGA called “a gig economy inside a union workforce.” 

The union is seeking more compensation for writers up front, because many of the payments writers have historically profited from on the back end — like syndication and international licensing — have been largely phased out by the onset of streaming. 

Galuska said she is among the writers who have never seen those kind of once common benefits.  

“I’ve had the opportunity to write on great shows that are very, very popular and not really seen the compensation for that, unfortunately,” she said.  

The AMPTP said sticking points to a deal revolved around so-called mini-rooms — the guild is seeking a minimum number of scribes per writer room — and the duration of employment contracts.  

Writers are also seeking more regulation around the use of artificial intelligence, which the WGA’s writers say could give producers a shortcut to finishing their work.  

“The fact that the companies have refused to deal with us on that fact means that I’m even more scared about it today than I was a week ago. They obviously have a plan. The things they say no to, are the things they’re planning to do tomorrow.”  
…

The union that represents U.S. film and television writers sent their members on strike Tuesday after failing to reach an agreement with studios and production companies over a new labor contract. 

The Writers Guild of America announced late Monday that their 11,500 members would put down their pens and turn off their computers at midnight Los Angeles time ((Tuesday 3:00 a.m. Washington time, 0700 GMT)) when their current contract expires.  

The union has been negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for increased pay and stronger employment guarantees on episodic television shows as more and more scripted series are being shown on Internet-based or “streaming” platforms.   

In a statement announcing the strike, the WGA said major studios such as Walt Disney and Netflix have “created a gig economy inside a union workforce,” a reference to the growing trend of people taking on freelance jobs as opposed to permanent, full-time work.  

Streaming television platforms have transformed the entertainment industry in recent years, offering more opportunities for writers but for lesser pay on shows that run fewer episodes per season than traditional broadcast networks.  

Artificial intelligence is another issue for WGA members. The union wants to prevent studios from using AI to create scripts based on writers’ previous work. It also doesn’t want writers to be asked to work on scripts generated by AI. 

SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan

The AMPTP issued a statement saying it was prepared to offer higher pay and better royalty payments for writers for streaming shows, but that it was “unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table.” The alliance says a major point of contention is a union proposal for a show to maintain a certain number of staff writers “whether needed or not.” 

The strike is the first by the WGA in 15 years. The last walkout began in late 2007 and stretched 100 days into the next year, costing the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion. Late night talk and variety shows such as “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live” will go off the air immediately as their writing staffs are members of the WGA.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.  
…