Is this another proof that Jay-Z will always accommodate to anything to avoid losing any money? The rap mogul has been under an increasing amount of pressure because of his collaboration with the luxury store Barneys New York, which was accused of racially profiling 2 black customers. After remaining silent for a long time, Jay Z released a statement to defend himself, saying he had being demonized. But on Friday, he has announced he would continue to collaborate with the store, despite everything, despite the heavy criticism and the public pressure:
‘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 policymaking to others hoping that someone addresses the problem,’ declared Jay Z, ‘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.’
Sure, review policies, but isn’t it a bit convenient? As if Jay-Z was going to put his nose into the luxury store’s policy, among everything this busy man is doing?
You can look at the story both ways, may be he is really trying to change things, but very probably he doesn’t want to lose any money. Contrarily to what he is saying in his statement, if he had terminated his deal with Barneys, that would have been a big slam in the face for the luxury store, right now he sounds like he is saving his a$$ while falsely patronizing the store. The future will tell whether a difference is really made, what about demanding Barney to apologize, retract any arrest record for these two young men and give them some compensation? In a statement, Barneys is still totally denying any wrong doing, which is obviously not a good sign, I am pretty sure nothing will be done for the victims.
Jay Z has promised that 100% of the proceeds, instead of the original 25%, from his Barneys New York collaboration will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation,… this same charity which received $6K out of the 63 million he earned in 2010? At the end, what does it mean? Just more publicity for Jay Z.