Barneys has canceled a party that was being thrown to celebrate the launch of "New York Holiday," the title of the collaboration between the retailer and Jay Z.
The event was to serve as a fundraiser for the Shawn Carter Foundation, the charity that stands to now receive 100% of the profits from the collaboration's sales. The Shawn Carter Foundation will also recieve 10% of all sales from Barneys New York and Barneys.com on Wednesday, November 20, the day the collaboration drops. These developments were outlined along with other all in a statement Hov issued on Life + Timestwo days ago that outlined several significant developments in the parnership between rapper and retailer.
The cancellation comes amidst the storm of controversy after instances of racial profiling came about as a result of the store taking measures to disproportionately target black shoppers. Jay Z is a veteran of weathering media storms, and with a seat on the council that's investigating the charges of racial profiling, he was probably instrumental in advising that throwing a lavish party to celebrate a now-controversial project was not the best move to make at this particular moment.
[via WWD]
