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Although Jay Z made it clear that the collaboration between Barney’s and himself will indeed go on, Barney’s is still a little nervous about celebrating so soon. The kickoff party was scheduled to go down this Wednesday at the Flagship store on Madison Ave in NYC.

According to WWD, Barneys issued the following statement:

“Due to unforeseen circumstances, the event has been cancelled.”

I’m sure Barney’s got cold feet especially with all of the lawsuits  that are currently pending. Barney’s would be a fool to celebrate under those conditions. I’m sure all hell would have broke lose if this party would have gone down on Wed. Tons of police officers, people rallying in the streets, perhaps even a few riots. It would have been a disaster. The collection is still scheduled to drop on Wednesday with or without the launch party. I’m looking forward to seeing those first week numbers. I will be very surprised if this collection sells at all.

Jay-Z’s statement regarding his partnership with Barney’s

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 moveforward 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 Yorkstores nationwide and Barneys.com on November 20th. – Shawn “JAY Z” Carter