Despite Criticism, Jay Z Continues With Barneys Collection

NEW YORK (AP) — Jay Z announced Friday he'll move forward with a planned collaboration with Barneys New York despite recent allegations of racial profiling at the luxury store, an ongoing investigation into the claims and public pressure that he back out of the deal.

In a statement on his website, Jay Z said he'd agreed to move forward with next week's launch of his BNY SCC collection under the condition that he helps lead the store's review of its policies.

"The easy position would have been to walk away and leave policymaking to others hoping that someone addresses the problem," said 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."

He said 100 percent of sales from the collection of clothes, accessories and jewelry will go toward his charitable foundation, which supports educational opportunities for disadvantaged students, and an additional 10 percent of all Barneys' sales during Wednesday's launch day will also be donated.

Barneys New York said in a statement that it guaranteed raising a minimum of $1 million Wednesday to be donated to the foundation.

"Barneys New York has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination," the statement said. "As we have stated all along, if we learn any procedures or practices are not consistent with our zero-tolerance policy, we will immediately take corrective action including terminating those employees responsible."

Last month, two black customers separately accused the luxury store of racial profiling after they said they lawfully purchased expensive items but were detained by police on suspicion of credit card fraud.

Trayon Christian sued Barneys, saying he was accused of fraud after using his debit card to buy a $349 Ferragamo belt in April. Kayla Philips filed a notice of claim saying she would sue after she was stopped by detectives outside the store when she bought a $2,500 Celine handbag in February.

Rob Brown, an actor who appears on the HBO series "Treme," also filed a lawsuit in October against Macy's, alleging he'd been similarly detained and questioned after he was stopped for possible credit card fraud while shopping at the department store. Brown is black.

Macy's has said none of its employees were involved in Brown's detention and questioning. On Friday, Barneys said its own investigation has determined none of its employees were involved in stopping Christian or Philips.

An investigation by the state attorney general's office is "ongoing and active," a spokeswoman said Friday.

New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said it is standard practice for retailers to call police if they believe crimes have been committed. The NYPD didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday.

Jay Z's decision to not immediately bow out of his Barneys collaboration when the racial profiling allegations surfaced drew a firestorm of criticism on Twitter and an online petition that urged the rap mogul to bow out.

Jay Z's statement regarding continuing his collection with Barneys via his website.

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

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