Jay-Z’s clothing line, Rocawear, pulled off its “Occupy All Streets” t-shirts last Saturday allegedly after the rap artist received a barrage of backlash. It was reported that the revenue of the $22 statement tee will not go to the Occupy Wall Street movement, causing an adverse reaction from its supporters.
However, the company released a statement before pulling out the T-shirt from its sales rack a day after it started selling.
According to Rocawear: “The “Occupy All Streets’ T shirt was created in support of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. Rocawear strongly encourages all forms of constructive expression, whether it be artistic, political or social. ‘Occupy All Streets’ is our way of reminding people that there is change to be made everywhere, not just on Wall Street. At this time we have not made an official commitment to monetarily support the movement.”
This, understandably, made the people angry. The supporters saw this as Jay-Z’s way of becoming richer by consigning the sentiments of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement, without giving anything back.
This is a sentiment shared by many of the anti-corporate movement organizers. One of them stated: “Jay-Z, as talented as he is, has the political sensibility of a hood rat and is a scrotum. To attempt to profit off the first important social moment of 50 years with an overpriced piece of cotton is an insult to the fight for economic civil rights known as #occupywallstreet.”
Now, the shirts are back on the Rocawear website after a massive new batch was printed. As it turns out, the clothing line just scrapped the t-shirt from its website after being sold out. The “Occupy All Streets” tees were sold out after Jay-Z’s photograph wearing the shirt hit the net.
