While Beyonce and Jay-Z just finished up their cruise on their $250K a week yacht after spending a month in The Hamptons in their $500K a month rental, Jay-Z gave an interview to The New York Times. In that interview, Jay-Z said he has no idea why people think he supported the Occupy Wall Street protests, because he didn't. He thought they were a waste of time and that you can't just demonize someone because they are in the 1% like him. I mean he knows that in a few years if there is still an Instagram that his daughter is going to be showing off her photos on that rich people of Instagram thing and he is going to look foolish saying he supports the protests while he spends $5M a month on entertainment and is in the upper 1% of 1%.
“I don’t know what the fight is about. What do we want? Do you know? I think all those things need to really declare themselves a bit more clearly because when you just say that ‘the 1 percent is that,’ that’s not true. Yeah, the 1 percent that’s robbing people, and deceiving people, these fixed mortgages and all these things, and then taking their home away from them, that’s criminal, that’s bad. Not being an entrepreneur. This is free enterprise. This is what America is built on.” He then went on to say that he had to leave right then because he had to go meet some contractors because they were paving his driveway with 24K gold and that all the guests at his daughter's first birthday would receive a 5 carat diamond and some land.
Shut up Jay-Z
ReplyDeleteEasy for the rich to say.
ReplyDeletedouche! I feel embarrassed for him
ReplyDeleteIf everyone didn't rely on credit cards none of this would have happened. Myself included.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with him. Some people are terrible- liars, thieves, cheats. But some of that 1% worked hard for that money. I'm proud to live in a country in which hard work and dedication can pay off.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, he's a douche for saying this. On the other hand, he'd be an even bigger douche if he pretended to relate to the 99%, while spending over a million dollars on a single vacation.
ReplyDeleteNot that he would actually lose all his fans over this, but when I first read this post, I pictured him performing for just his 1% fans and seeing Goop standing in the audience by herself, arms in the air, swaying to the music.
Cathy, you are cracking me up today! LOL!!
DeleteThat's really odd that he would say these things - especially since he created an "occupy" t-shirt to sell in "support" of OWS. After bad press he pulled it.
ReplyDeleteUGH
ReplyDeleteJayZ shut the fuck up and inform yourself a bit more
this is the person who tried to make a PROFIT out of the occupy movement by selling Tshirts:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jay-z-occupy-wall-street-shirt-rocawear-260334
He doesn't mind capitalizing from the movement, but he doesn't support it. What a dickhole.
ReplyDeleteThere are bad people in every demographic. I think it's fair of him to say that some people in "the 1%" are crooks, but some aren't. Coming from a family of small business owners/entrepreneurs, I see first hand how hard they've worked for just a little success.
ReplyDelete@Belle he didn't create it to support it. He co-opted it to make money off of it.
ReplyDeleteNone of the shirts he was trying to sell gave any money to help the people protesting.
He pulled the shirts becuase he looked like such a sleazy money hogger for trying to make a buck off a grass roots movement and got called out on it for doing it.
Gawd, I wish I was 1% rich!
ReplyDeleteharry belafonte said it best:
ReplyDelete“I think one of the greatest abuses of this modern time is that we have had such high-profile artists, powerful celebrities. But they have turned their back on social responsibility. That goes for Jay-Z and Beyoncé, for example. Give me Bruce Springsteen, and now you’re talking. I really think he is black.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/02/harry-belafonte-black-artists-must-do-more.html
But seriously, he's a douche :)
ReplyDeleteOh, shut the hell up!! Ugh!!!
ReplyDeleteannabella, I love that quote! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHe is right to a point. Just because you worked hard and achieved success does not make you evil. There are crooks in every demographic and to say that just because someone achieved much and earned their wealth that they are bad is just plain wrong.
ReplyDeleteNow, some lazy, wonky-eyed, disease spreading ho who inherited her wealth, that's a different story.
He totally missed the point. Guess he has been too rich for too long.
ReplyDeleteWhat they are saying is the rich have an unfair advantage the the rest of us do not get and that keeps us way way below the 1%.
They need to do more they have a responsibility to do more and stop cheating with loop holes.
Word, worstcompany. Excellent summation.
ReplyDeleteSo are demonizing him because he's rich? He did work to get where he is now its not like it was handed to him.
ReplyDeleteHarry Belafonte basically calling out someone for not being 'black' enough is sort of rich. He's been exclusively interested in white women since he became famous.
ReplyDeleteLayna, read more about him, hes really an extraordinary man, wise and philosopical.
DeleteMeanwhile it's the people who are loosing houses and working minimum wage, maybe barely getting by, that are buying his and his wife's crappy music and providing him with his 1% lifestyle...
ReplyDeleteAhem.
ReplyDelete*leaves room*
U mean people earning minimum wage and still buying houses are funding Jay Z's 1% lifestyle bc they are too stupid to know how to not spend above their means?
ReplyDelete@Layna Day, that's not true. Harry Belafonte's first two wives were black. His current wife is white but he didn't marry her until 2008 and he's been famous since the mid-fifties.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the second wife was white, or at least biracial. And he straight up told Eartha Kitt not to take whatever relationship they had seriously, because he found white women more attractive. That's his choice. But he doesn't get to criticize others for assimilation. That's what a lot of this comes down to.
ReplyDeleteBanana Boat Song (aka Day O)
ReplyDelete"Daylight come and me wan' go home"
The fuck if I have spent one DIME to buy "music" in years. Nor to see any "artist" perform live.
ReplyDeletePains me to no end that he shills for Budweiser. You think the great Jehovah has drank one SIP of Budweiser in decades? Pleeze.
Glad I'm not a middling, decently-talented voice actor, character actor or model, or perfume designer or clothing designer. If so, all my work would be gobbled up by all the big names just getting bigger and richer. Why the fuck do all the already-famous get to be spokespeople and models and "faces" for every GD thing? Endorsements have pissed me off for a long time.
Fuck the 1%. And I say this while being firmly within the 1% of the world's income, but still a 99%-er in the US income. But by the current standards I was shocked to discover that I'm now considered upper middle class. So, what? I'm in the 97%? It stuns me because we still struggle a little, and we definitely live below our means.
Oh well, rant over. Whatever. I like Jay-Z OK but he needs to just STFU.
Here's the thing, though: Jay isn't entirely wrong. He's coming from an obtuse POV, but he's right that the OWS movement lost its original focus. Also, a lot of the protestors involved were just college hipsters who went back to their regularly scheduled lives after it was over. The people who really had reason to protest were too buy trying to work and feed their families.
ReplyDeleteSo what may have started with good intentions became a mess, didn't accomplish anything, and now ignores those they claim to want to help. Basically, a whole bunch of nothing, thanks for the memories.
Got people talking, which is always good.
DeleteExcellent summation, Layna Day
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEff that wannabe illuminati baphomet worshipping MFer and his family. Sold his soul for wealth and fame.
ReplyDeleteCathy, Awesome! Your comments are poignant and funny at the same time. Enjoyed Selena's rant, too. I think we're right there with you.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's a good thing to work hard and earn your way, and that's America, but think it sucks that he's such a poser (selling t-shirts for even more profit?!? That was an eye-opener...)Loved the quote from Bellafonte.
What can we learn from this? Be more charitable ourselves, whatever our "%"? I hope so. I try, but it never seems like enough.
I learn so much from this site and these clever, clever posters... A nice break from academia.
Easy to say from someone who can wipe their delicate ass checks with hundred dollar bills.
ReplyDeleteTwo words...this bitch.
ReplyDelete@Layna Day, I googled the thing about Eartha Kitt and was shocked. I did not know he said such an awful thing to her and right after they had sex! What a jerk!
ReplyDeleteI found this blog post denouncing Belafonte in the Belafonte/Jay-Z feud. It might interest you.
http://www.hicktownpress.com/hypocrite-harry-belafonte-bashes-beyonce-and-jayz/
Mb I shld read more about harry,
Delete@Belle
ReplyDeleteTotally! What happened to all those T-shirts he was trying to sell? What a complete ass.
there will always be rich people (at least in the span of our lifetimes) and many of them will be completely obtuse in their outlook of others less financially fortunate than they. some will exploit to no extent the lower classes for their own financial gains. there have been and will be wars fought for rich peoples' businesses and the poor will fight these wars and die for the wealthy. this is history; this is now. but don't forget, there will also be other rich people who will use their money to improve the lives of others and further the intelligent progression of the human race.
ReplyDeletethis particular rich person, jay-z, decided to run his mouth and look like a total dick. but he is rich, so he can. what WE can do is refuse to buy what he is selling and ignore him, as his fortune has been made by selling and performing and his value is dependent on his fame, to which we are contributing by complaining and reacting to his diarrhea of the mouth.
i would certainly prefer the life we have now here in america to that of the past worlds of kings, lords and plebeians. i don't think plebeians ever had forums where they could comfortably sit and voice their opinions of the kings, let alone possess a certain anonymity in the process.
there's my little rant on this. sheesh, it is probably too long.
If we are getting real with jay z lets be honest about how he got his start. Mothafucker was a coke dealer. That would be how is first few records were made. With drug money. So pulling himself up by his bootstraps is a crock of shit. Good on him for being an enterprising individual but lets not kid ourselves with how he made it to the one percent. Also loooong time lurker :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, OWS had no focus. Whatevs. I think it's pretty obvious that they were protesting how the wealthy elite control our economy & government for their personal gain, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps. A bunch of people camping out in parks and protesting for 6 months at a time is dedication. Don't try to take away from that.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the lottery. Good for you, but you hit the lottery. Don't act like your life isn't a fluke. Yes, it took hard work and sacrifice. But you still hit the lottery. 1,000,000 people could try to do what you did. 1 would be lucky to make it.
Go pop some Cristal or switch gold bottles onto that Spade shit. Sellout. All he raps about is a life of disgusting largesse. I'l try to save 250k to put my kid through college, not rent a yacht for a week.
Very well said @kathrynnova. I completely agree.
ReplyDelete" NeverNudes said...
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with him. Some people are terrible- liars, thieves, cheats. But some of that 1% worked hard for that money. I'm proud to live in a country in which hard work and dedication can pay off. "
^THIS, a million times THIS.
i'm no jayz fan or apologist...in fact, i think he's a douche a good 99.9% of the time. but in this one case, i completely and utterly agree. i never did, and never will support ows, nor do i have any trace of the slightest, most remote respect for said 'movement'. i also won't demonize, generalize or stereotype the 1% simply b/c i am not one of them. kudos to the honest ones for their hard work and rewards.
The "occupy" people are a band of life's loosers engaging in widespread criminal activities.
ReplyDeleteThey also are jew haters and largely communists.
Good for Jay-Z
@Pookie
ReplyDeleteYeah, but Jay Z was also trying to make money off the movement at its height last year. That's what makes this guy a total ass.
Wow, he and his wife should have dinner with Mitt and Ann Romney sometime. They have a lot in common.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with being rich IF you worked hard for it and earned it honestly. The problem is that a lot of these people didn't earn it honestly and forget to give back!!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad I never wasted my hard earned money on Jay Z or Beyonce!
He's not wrong. And selling t-shirts to those Occupy fools is just hilarious and genius. Fuck Occupy. Crying poor and then buying designer t-shirts. Waaah, other people should subsidize my bad decisionmaking or I'm going to shit in the park and break things (because that expensive and useless degree in Dumbass Studies was such a great decision). Occupy got manipulated by everyone because they were too stupid to define their movement intellectually so they relied entirely on envy and greed. Easily and obviously manipulable. Greedy thoughtless people whining about other peoples' greed and thoughtlessness, and without even a hint of irony.
ReplyDeleteWhen did it become customary to have contempt for other peoples' good fortune? That's just wrong. I don't care or know one way or the other about this Jay-Z but he's making sense to me here. So what if he has a gold-plated driveway? Yeah, I know that's exagerration but the point stands. What's it to you? Jay-Z hires contractors and probably about 100 babysitters and wife-retainers. How many jobs have you created today? What is stopping you, really, be honest, from starring in your own life?
Pookie, I completely agree with you, and I feel the need to add that I love, love, LOVE your avatar.
ReplyDeleteOccupy Wall Street had the wrong target from the get go.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Jay Z and Kanye go down and give props to the OWS crowd? I remember reading how Kanye's outfit cost more than what most people earn in a month. And Rocawear even tried to cash in with "Occupy" T-shirts. So why's Hova trying to walk that back now?
ReplyDeleteWow I'm disappointed at a lot of the comments.
ReplyDeleteWord Amartel!!
I'm getting tired of people saying the wealthy need to do their part (that's what charities are for) or stop taking advantage of loop holes (then vote for people who will fix this). This kind of thinking is dangerous. When will people wake up that socialism doesn't work? (well actually, it will work until you run out of other people's money).
I don't expect gov't handouts like Occupy people and I'm not going to whine because other people have money. Maybe if people didn't blindly purchase shit they couldn't afford(I'm not including any cases of fraud obviously). What did I do when my car died and it cost $ I didn't have? No going out, no shopping and lots of ramen that month.
The problem is - people started out being mad at wealthy bastards who made their money fraudulently and suddenly it's just hating the wealthy in general, regardless of whether their money was made honestly.
Agree @Amartel.
ReplyDeleteI'm a poor, struggling college grad but I'd never ever want to be in any system other than capitalism. I have the most chance of making my own success here. Freedom, always.
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ReplyDeleteit isnt having the money that makes u a suspect, its the way u act with it. hes nouveau riche, so you gotta take it from whence it cocmes.
ReplyDelete@Jay, I have no involvement in Occupy Wall Street, but I have several Jewish friends who were camped out in whatever park everyone was in in New York. There was even an Occupy Wallstreet synagogue that had nightly meals. If the Occupy movement is anti-semitic, then there are a whole bunch of Jews who didn't get the memo.
ReplyDeleteT.E. Cruz- Thank you. That is the positive attitude that will guarantee success. It's not a zero-sum game; someone else's success does not detract from yours. Keep on!
ReplyDelete"Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are part of those government handouts."
Sorry, no, that is incorrect. These are not "handouts." These are programs that those of us who work pay into on the theory that these benefits will be available to all of us when we retire/need them. Which is a big lie because all of these programs are running out of money because they've been mismanaged, plundered by whiners and abused for political purposes for years, which process continues most recently, unaccountably, at an expanded and increased rate. If you're under 40 forget it. It's not going to be there for you. That's a fact. Plan accordingly.
The Occupy fools are just another in a long line of whiners and tantrum throwers for free stuff. There is no free stuff. Somebody else always has to pay. (Also, there was a LOT of anti-Semitism at Occupy. It's quite well documented on the internet.)
Yes, there are people struggling for reasons other than overspending and greed. It's tough times right now. But there are also a lot of people whose struggle derives from just those things and it's time we started being honest with ourselves about that. Stop the idiotic blanket blame of successful rich people. How much more damage was done by all the non-rich people who took out loans for homes and educations that they could not afford, ran up stupid credit card bills, pulled government benefits that they did not need, etc. The sheer volume of that greed puts the 1% in perspective. The truth is that if you got all the rich people together and took away their money it wouldn't come slightly close to paying off our national debt to say nothing of our current future obligations.
This is a guy who's all about hindsight, he only realized that bitch was a terrible word when he had a daughter of his own.
ReplyDelete@ Dagny, thank (((you))).
ReplyDeletelooks like you're one of the ones that gets it.
i appreciate that.
Amartel. I think you're living in some kind of magic bubble or just really lucky. Plan for it? I did not plan to have the major bread winner be unemployed for a year and a half. I was living the American dream and had the rug ripped out from under me. The fact that you have no compassion and can preach about how superior you are just means it hasn't happened to you yet.
ReplyDeleteI feel strongly about this bc it's been my life for the last 5 years. The banks got bailed out. I didn't. Many of us "poor greedy people" we're flat out lied to, but no one wants to talk about that. We are lazy and want hand outs, right! You may feel very differently when you lose your job and your house and your kids. Life doesn't always go according to plan. Hope you don't learn that the hard way like many of the Occupy protesters.
The problem with all of these good on the 1% comments, and I am pretty sure this is a worldwide thing, is when you get to that %, you no longer really pay taxes, so all that money you are now making, doesn't benefit anyone else.
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topic, I just re-read Jay Z's quote about "deceiving people [with] these fixed mortgages and all these things." Fixed rate mortgages were never the problem, you idiot. I didn't read the New York Times article so he may have had some other valid points about something, but he clearly doesn't understand the intrinsic factors in the mortgage collapse. Just goes to show that one need not be well rounded educationally to strike it rich.
ReplyDeleteI read about 1/2 of the article. He is inarticulate, couldn't meander through it. I also caught the lack of knowledge re fixed rate mtg... . He and PD ran a lot of drug money through their operations, money laundering 101. I don't care about his wealth or what he pretends to do with it. I do care how he "earned" it and how the very people that worship him also die from his money making associations.
ReplyDelete@Dia Papaya...(((hugs)))
ReplyDeleteIf you have had your life ripped apart because of sudden illness that becomes debilitating...there's no way to plan for that! Yeah, there are *good guy* rich folks, and then, some not so good. But, to come off as those who are struggling are some kind of lazy slobs or something...I hope like hell it never happens to you self-righteous folks.
To the others, who know or just have empathy and compassion: may you never lose it.
G'night all!
Nicely stated Reeses, not everybody was in the greed abyss. Lots of good people were royally screwed.
ReplyDeleteI teach in the hood. These rich *sshole douches have NO idea what some of these kids have to endure. We teachers buy them school supplies, school clothes, shoes, backpacks, etc. out of our own pockets & never look for recognition ( Now I just did!) THEY spend their $ on yachts, bling, ho's, Cristal, the Hampton's, etc. etc. How about doing something meaningful for another human being with your surplus of dough??? Shut up, Douchey McDouche-Douche Jay-Z & your spoiled, pretentious *sshole buddies. Glad I've never spent any $ on his shitty-sounding so- called "music".
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Occupy movement should have, in his words, "declare[d] themselves a bit more clearly." I also think he should take his own advice, because as a whole, that quote is all over the place.
ReplyDeletedia, the fact that you can be going through tough times, yet still have a great empathy for others, shows what a fabulous, kind person you are, don't ever change.
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of Michael Hutchence....
ReplyDeleteI'm standing here on the ground.
The sky above won't fall down
Hear no evil in all directions,
Resolution of happiness,
things have been dark for too long...
Don't change for you, don't change a thing, for me
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ReplyDeleteIt's hilarious that every time there's a post with a whiff of social commentary or politics to it, a bunch of people who never post here show up. Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood had the same thing when she posted the box office report for the first weekend of that goofy disheh disouze movie. There were almost 800 comments at one point. Most of her b.o. posts are lucky to have 150.
ReplyDeleteOh, and dia rocks.
Most people in the 1% were badly threatened by the Occupy movement. Its calling unwanted attention to the injustices of the American capitalist system. We are so conditioned to believe that capitalism is the best economic system in the world, and that American capitalism is superior to all other forms of capitalism that its very hard to hear any kind of criticism.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is capitalism is only workable so long its heavily regulated.........and when its not, we have an economic disaster like we had in 2008. And that wasn't the first econ. disaster this country has had and it won't be the last.
And how is capitalism so good when people who model or sing or play ball make millions while people who work their butts off to get where they are like MDs or shrinks or architects or school teachers make much, much less. In my state, the highest paid public official is a football coach........he makes over a million bucks per year which is more than the governor makes.
How can an economic system be good when douches like Shia and Chris Brown make millions while teachers who train our young struggle to make ends meet.
Sorry there may be some great entrepreneurs in the mix but that should not stop us from demanding that they pay their fair share and that their lifestyles are sacrosanct.
End of rant!
I hate that fucker. By the way Occupy was not saying everyone in the 1% is evil or undeserving.
ReplyDeleteI always knew the guy was an idiot.
ReplyDelete