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Jay-Z And Beyoncé Quietly Bailed Out Protesters, Activist Says
Jay-Z and Beyonce (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
While Jay-Z and Beyoncé have been criticized for not using their celebrity power to aid in social justice movements, one writer and activist is saying that's just not true—and they've been quietly donating tens of thousands to bail out protesters in Ferguson and Baltimore.
dream hampton, co-author of Jay-Z's autobiography Decoded, sent out a flurry of tweets on Sunday about the couple (AKA the Carters). She prefaced her tweets with, "I'm going to tweet this and I don't care if Jay gets mad." Complex took screenshots of the tweets before hampton deleted them.
"When we needed money for bail for Baltimore protesters, I... hit Jay up, as I had for Ferguson, wired tens of thousands in mins," hampton tweeted. "When BLM needed infrastructure money for the many chapters that we're growing like beautiful dandelions, Carters wrote a huge check... And more stuff, too much to list actually, that they always insist folk keep quiet."
hampton also wrote, "Protest is literally punished with tariffs."
She later told New York Daily News that she deleted her tweets because she didn't want them to stay on Twitter, but said what she wrote is true.
hampton did leave up this tweet:
Sponsored message
Over the past year, protests have erupted over the deaths of two black men by the hands of police. One was of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. in August 2014, and another of Freddie Gray, who died last month after a spinal injury he sustained while in police custody in Baltimore, Md.
AFP reported that hampton's tweets were meant to defend Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Some have criticized the couple, who's worth an estimated $1 billion, for not doing enough for social movements. Famous musician Harry Belafonte told the Hollywood Reporter in 2012 that the couple were among the ones who "have turned their back on social responsibility."
However, it looks like the Carters have been quietly taking action in their own ways. When Prince held the 'Rally 4 Peace' concert in Baltimore earlier this month, the couple visited Gray's family that same weekend in Baltimore. The performance was live-streamed by Jay Z's music service company, Tidal. Also, Jay-Z matched donations people made on the rally's website. The proceeds from the show went to Baltimore-based youth charities.
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