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Jay-Z's Team Nets $400M from Ex-Slave-Trade Co.
Will Jay-Z boycott his own team -- the New Jersey Nets -- for taking $400 million from a bank that some say was built on profits from the slave trade?
The Jiggaman was all smiles recently when the team announced that its new arena in Brooklyn, Jay-Z's hometown, would be called the Barclays Center, after UK-based Barclays Bank, which is paying $400 million over 20 years for naming rights. But just after the January 18 announcement, local politicians and journalists quickly rang the alarm on the deal, criticizing the team and its majority owner, Bruce Ratner, for taking money from a bank whose founding family profited from its ownership of slaves in the 18th century and was involved in controversial dealings with the South African government in the 1980s.
Since then, Jay-Z (real name: Shawn Carter), who owns less than one percent of the team, has declined to comment. His his rep told TMZ that there would be no statement given or action taken by Carter. The rapper has a history of boycotting: Last year, he stopped drinking and serving Cristal champagne after an executive with Cristal's producer made disparaging remarks about rappers and their affinity for the bubbly.
Barclays, for its part, says its slave-trade past should be understood in the context of history, and says that it will spend $2.5 million on enhancing basketball courts all over the borough of Brooklyn.
Source: TMZ.com
The Jiggaman was all smiles recently when the team announced that its new arena in Brooklyn, Jay-Z's hometown, would be called the Barclays Center, after UK-based Barclays Bank, which is paying $400 million over 20 years for naming rights. But just after the January 18 announcement, local politicians and journalists quickly rang the alarm on the deal, criticizing the team and its majority owner, Bruce Ratner, for taking money from a bank whose founding family profited from its ownership of slaves in the 18th century and was involved in controversial dealings with the South African government in the 1980s.
Since then, Jay-Z (real name: Shawn Carter), who owns less than one percent of the team, has declined to comment. His his rep told TMZ that there would be no statement given or action taken by Carter. The rapper has a history of boycotting: Last year, he stopped drinking and serving Cristal champagne after an executive with Cristal's producer made disparaging remarks about rappers and their affinity for the bubbly.
Barclays, for its part, says its slave-trade past should be understood in the context of history, and says that it will spend $2.5 million on enhancing basketball courts all over the borough of Brooklyn.
Source: TMZ.com
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