Last fall, The FADER's Deidre Dyer reported on the controversy surrounding Jay Z's holiday collection collaboration with high-end New York department store Barneys in the wake of allegations that the store racially profiled African-American customers. Now it appears Barneys is taking responsibility for the situation. On Monday, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a settlement with Barneys to prevent racial discrimination at the store. According to the agreement, the store will pay $525,000 in fines, employ an anti-profiling consultant, develop an anti-profiling policy, investigate claims of profiling by customers, and provide anti-profile training to employees. This comes after a nine-month investigation into complaints by two African-American customers who claimed they were suspected of credit card fraud at the store. In a statement about the agreement, Barneys CEO Mark Lee said: "Barneys New York has prided itself on providing an unparalleled customer experience to every person that comes into contact with our brand—open and welcoming to one and all.” Petitioners last year called on Jay Z to dissociate himself from Barneys following the profiling charges, but the rapper opted to go forward with his 30-piece holiday collection, this time with 100 percent of proceeds from the sales going to his Shawn Carter Foundation rather than the 25 percent as was originally planned.
