Al Sharpton Doesn’t Think Jay Z Needs To Pull His Barney’s Collection

Although many are demanding that Jay Z pull his upcoming holiday collection from Barney's in the midst of the racial controversy, surprisingly the rapper's product assortment is the last thing on Al Sharpton's mind. Stating that the protest should be more about the department store and less about Jay Z, the civil rights activist says that people should focus more on Barney's alleged reluctance to abide by civil rights bylaws.

“Some people want to make this about Jay Z,” Sharptom said in an article by The New York Post. “No, this is about Barneys first.”

Further citing the NYPD's unwillingness to cooperate, he continued, “What is the collusion between the NYPD and your security that four blocks away from the store, the NYPD stops somebody that bought something in your store? We call 911 and can’t get no response. Somebody spent over two grand, and you pick them up four blocks later.” Later announcing plans to further protest the store he said, “We’ll march all the way down to your store,” and in spite of the upcoming holiday he added, “I’ll serve turkey right on the corner.”

The president of Sharpton’s National Action Network Brooklyn chapter also added, “There’s a lot of talk about whether or not Barneys should be doing business with certain black people. I think it’s a racist notion to assume that the only black person Barneys does business with is Jay Z. We’re not there to focus on Jay Z. [He] did not write the corporate policy at Barneys. Jay Z is just like every other business man, he is there to make money and if he is the only black business man that does business with Barney, that is the problem. Barneys is what’s on the table right now.”