Adidas exec promoted black manager as ‘contribution to diversity’: report

A longtime executive at Adidas told staffers he promoted a black employee to a managerial position so that the company can make a “contribution to diversity,” according to a report.

Roland Auschel, the head of sales at the Germany-based sports apparel maker, reportedly made the remark during a meeting with 200 managers in 2019, the Financial Times reported.

“It was completely inappropriate,” one employee who was at the meeting told FT.

Auschel’s comment spurred Adidas to launch a two-year investigation that ended with the high-paid exec keeping his job, according to FT.

The company told FT it hired “a reputable law firm” to probe allegations concerning “potential breaches of internal conduct guidelines” as part of a “comprehensive and independent” investigation.

Adidas, which recently severed its ties with Kanye West after he made anti-Semitic remarks, told FT the investigation revealed that Auschel’s conduct was not severe enough to warrant firing him under German labor laws.

The Post has sought comment from Adidas.

“There have been no further indications of possible misconduct since then,” a company spokesperson told FT.

The company said the investigation “revealed a training need for the executive in question in the areas of communication and diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Adidas said it communicated to Auschel its “expectation to comply with conduct guidelines” and that this requirement was “emphatically addressed.”

Auschel, who has been with Adidas for more than 30 years, “underwent several months of coaching in 2021,” according to the company. He was not docked any part of his pay, FT reported.

Earlier this year, Adidas reportedly extended Auschel’s contract, which included a 26% tack-on to his bonus. His total compensation in 2021 was valued at more than $3.7 million, according to FT.

The apparel giant has come under fire in recent weeks after it hesitated before severing ties with West, who partnered with the company in selling his lucrative Yeezy clothing line.

West, who has changed his legal name to Ye, has made a series of anti-Semitic comments that have also cost him his business relationship with several companies.

Adidas last week announced it was launching an investigation after several former employees working on the Yeezy line alleged that Ye showed them pornographic films and explicit images of his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.

A Rolling Stone report quoted several former Adidas employees as saying that management knew of Ye’s behavior yet failed to discipline him.