Jay Z moves forward with Barney’s deal despite controversy, issues new statement
Shawn Jay Z Carter has announced that he will move forward with a multi-million dollar deal he has with Barney’s New York. The high-end retail store is recovering from a wave of backlash regarding its practices when dealing with customers of color. 19-year-old Trayon Christian and 23-year-old Kayla Phillips both filed lawsuits against the NYPD and the department store after being accosted by police who accused them of credit card fraud and theft from the store.
Jay Z’s initial response to a call for him to drop his deal with the line can be found here. The rappers pledges to meet allegations of racial profiling head on, and to also donate 100% of the profits from his collection with Barney’s to The Shawn Carter Foundation. Here’s the most recent statement published by Jay Z on his website a couple of days ago.
In the past several weeks two separate investigations were launched as a result of the wrongful detention of Trayon Christian and Kayla Phillips. My team has been privy to the status of the Barneys third party consultant investigation. In continuing our research, we also contacted the New York State Attorney General’s office for the status of their investigation into both Barneys and Macy’s. Those findings are not yet available.
While I await the findings of the Attorney General’s Office, I have agreed to move forward with the launch of BNY SCC collection under the condition that I have a leadership role and seat on a council specifically convened to deal with the issue of racial profiling. I am in a unique position to use my voice to affect change to this disturbing issue. The easy position would have been to walk away and leave policy making to others hoping that someone addresses the problem. I will not leave the outcome to others. I will take this into my own hands with full power to recommend, review and revise policies and guidelines moving forward. I am choosing to take this head on.
As I previously stated, the collaboration with Barneys has always been about giving and The Shawn Carter Foundation. From this collection, the Foundation will receive not only 25% of sales, it will now receive the additional 75% of Barneys’ sales, totaling 100% of all sales from BNY SCC. Along with 100% of sales from the collaboration, the Foundation will receive an additional 10% of all retail sales from Barneys New York stores nationwide and Barneys.com on November 20th. – Shawn “JAY Z” Carter
Two other African American shoppers filed a lawsuit against Macy’s, the other retail chain accused of racial profiling. All of the cases are pending and for undisclosed amounts.
Thoughts on Jay Z’s response?
Does it change your opinion about whether or not he should drop the deal with Barney’s?