Jay Z found himself under the bright light last month when Barneys, the luxury retailer he's teamed up with for an upcoming holiday collection, was hit with a racial profiling lawsuit last month. Urged by many to pull out of the deal, Jay Z issued a statement assuring that the collection was born from a wholly charitable place, and promising that he would look into the issue before making any big decisions. It has since become pretty evident that the store has been overly aggressive in implementing their "shop and frisk" policy. And, well, Jay has decided to move forward with the collaboration anyways-- but only under the condition that there be new rules.
In a statement posted to his Life + Times site tonight, he breaks down the new deal: he will head a council convened to deal with racial profiling, 100 percent of the proceeds from the collection will now go to his Shawn Carter Foundation, and, additionally, Barneys will donate 10 percent of all sales made the day the collection drops, November 20th. "I am in a unique position to use my voice to affect change to this disturbing issue," he writes, adding, "I will not leave the outcome to others" and "I am choosing to take this head on."
Read the rest below:
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, totalling 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
