Irv Gotti Wonders If NFL Used JAY-Z for a ‘Masterminded Plan and Made Him Look Like a Pawn’

Everyone has a take on JAY-Z's Roc Nation x NFL partnership. Ev-ery-one.

Irv Gotti recently spoke to Page Six about what he calls "a brilliant move for the NFL" to join forces with JAY-Z in becoming their "live music entertainment strategist," which has been overshadowed by the aspect of their partnership where Roc Nation will be involved in the league's social initiatives.

Gotti admits there's a part of him that wants to consider if JAY is being made to "look like a pawn" by the NFL. "If it was a masterminded plan, then you just used Hov for a masterminded plan and made him look like a pawn in this whole fucking thing," he said.

"To sit there and watch JAY talk [at the widely publicized meeting] while Roger Goodell is sitting there quiet, it almost looks like the NFL manufactured and manipulated JAY to be the front and face of the bullshit, knowing JAY is so powerful that he can make people forget about [Kaepernick and others] kneeling," Gotti wondered.

JAY-Z has maintained since the Roc Nation x NFL press conference that his involvement is to push the league to the next step in "two parts of the protest" that helped bring about awareness towards the social injustice issues impacting the country. Since it's only been a week since the announcement and we're still the early stages of their partnership, Gotti wants to reserve judgment until he sees how everything plays out. We should all do the same.