In case you haven’t heard, Jay Z is continuing his deal with Barney’s despite recent lawsuits against the luxury store for racial profiling.
His fragrance, Gold, will debut Wednesday at Barney’s along with a capsule fashion collection that includes backpacks, raincoats and some jewelry. The rapper hasn’t spoken much on the matter, but did release a statement last month saying that all the money made from his end of the deal will benefit low-income urban youth through his Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation.
While Jay Z is ensuring that some good will come out of this deal, there are those who believe that his decision to continue with it was not the best way to handle the situation. Former Vogue Editor-at-Large Andre Leon Tally stated that, “Any African-American, male or female, with any consciousness of what happened would not go into Barney’s right now.” He went on to say if he were in Jay Z’s position, “for the simplicity of making a broad statement I would pull out.”
What do you think is the best way to handle the situation? Is Jay Z making a bigger change by using the money made from his Barney’s deal to help the very people they’ve been accused of racial profiling? Or would pulling out of the deal make a larger impact?
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