A limited series of shoes with satanic references and each containing a drop of blood sparked a scandal in the United States and led to their designer being sued by the equipment manufacturer Nike.
The “Satan Shoes” were put on sale by the MSCHF company, which specializes in limited series products, put on sale online on a given date.
They were produced in partnership with the American rapper Lil Nas X, made famous by his hit Old Town Road, whose remix flew over the spring and summer of 2019.
The model is initially an Air Max 97 shoe made by Nike, to which some distinctive signs reminiscent of the devil have been added, including a pentagram (inverted five-pointed star), sometimes considered a satanic symbol.
A drop of blood was also injected into the sole, according to MSCHF.
As of Monday, the day of the sale of this model to 666 copies, a number also associated with the devil, Nike sued the small company in a federal civil court in Brooklyn.
“The ‘Satan Shoes’ were produced without Nike’s agreement or authorization,” said the equipment manufacturer in a statement sent to AFP by a spokesperson. “Nike is in no way associated with this project.”
The OEM is calling for the suspension of delivery of the pairs of shoes, all of which sold on Monday, at $ 1,018 a pair. He also claims damages, without quantifying them.
Nike points out that the model is a source of confusion and that calls for a boycott of the supplier have already been launched.
More generally, shoes caused a scandal, with Internet users denouncing a sign of decadence.
“We are in a fight to save the soul of our nation,” Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem tweeted on Sunday of the shoes. “We must fight hard […] intelligently. We have to win. ”
On Sunday, Lil Nas X posted a video on YouTube that starts off as a message of apology before moving on to his latest clip, Montero, released on Friday, in which he performs a lascivious dance on the devil’s thighs.