Following calls for Adidas to drop its partnership with Kanye West over his comments that 400 years of black slavery “sounds like a choice”, the brand’s CEO Kasper Rorsted has said he is committed to Yeezy.

“It is clear there are some remarks that we don’t support,” Rorsted said, according to Reuters, but added: “We are very committed to the Yeezy brand moving forward.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Rorsted added that the company had “not had any conversation with Kanye in the last 24 hours” and had not discussed the issue internally.

“Kanye has been and is a very important part of our strategy and he’s been a fantastic creator, and that’s where I’m going to leave it,” he said.

West made the controversial comment about slavery during an interview with TMZ. “When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice,” he said. “You was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally in prison.

“I like the word ‘prison’ because ‘slavery’ goes too direct to the idea of blacks. Slavery is to blacks as the Holocaust is to Jews.

“Prison is something that unites as one race, blacks and whites, that we’re the human race.”

A petition asking Adidas “to rethink their lucrative deal with West after his jaw-dropping outburst”, has been launched by Care2.  At the time of writing it had close to 6,000 signatures.

“While Kanye can live safely in his multi-million dollar castle, the rest of black America is continually marginalised and subject to unjust laws and treatment. Some even die because this behaviour is so ingrained in our society,” the petition reads.

“Kanye West has a right to free speech, and he has the right to spout lies and misinformation and misplaced opinions ― but we as consumers have the right to fight back against this type of dangerous propaganda.”