Fans have been urging Jay Z to cut ties with Barney's after 19-year-old college student Trayvon Christian filed a lawsuit against the retailer and the NYPD for detaining him after he purchased a $349 belt; since news of Christian's suit broke, other customers have claimed similar unjustified profiling. A Change.org petition asking Mr. Beyonce Knowles to "withdraw his support from Barneys New York" had 2,775 signatures as of Friday afternoon, and he's been taking heat on Twitter, too.
Some say it seems like Jay Z, who grew up at the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn, is losing touch with his roots. "My money is as good as anybody else’s money. It’s all green," Annette Rush, a Marcy resident, told the Daily News. "“From someone that came from the hood, he should know all that. He knows how hard it is. I don’t think he should sell his things there, not at a place where there’s racial profiling going on. It’s ridiculous." And it seems like he's set to make bank off the deal (though he'll be donating a portion of proceeds to his scholarship foundation), which will stick an "exclusive" collection from his Shawn Carter line it its own "immersive space” in the store. The Daily News says the cheapest item in the collection is a $70 cotton t-shirt, and it also sports $33,900 watch—a steal.
Young Hov has failed to respond to media requests regarding the controversy; meanwhile, more folks have been coming forward to accuse Barney's of racial profiling, and even megamodel Tyson Beckford says he's had trouble with the retailer. "I might have the most recognizable face in the world. I still get followed all the time any time I go to a store," he told PIX 11 News.
