(AllHipHop News) As Jay Z’s exclusive collection at Barneys New York debuted yesterday and the media attention to the alleged incidents of racially profiling at the retailer started to die down, one of Jay’s business associates working on the project offers his opinion about the allegations and the response.
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Joanie Lemercier, the art director of the Barneys window display featuring the Jay Z line, spoke with the New York Daily News. The French citizen apparently feels that the two cases of Barneys customers claiming they were detained for stealing only because of their race would not be an issue where he’s from.
“I cannot understand why the press makes such a big deal out of two incidents. In Europe this wouldn’t happen,” said Lemercier.
Lemercier goes on to explain that theme of the window display is “black and white” with it being an artistic representation of Jay’s rise from “darkness” to “light.”
“It’s about Jay Z coming from the Marcy projects, from the darkness of Brooklyn, and into the bright city of light of Manhattan,” explains Lemercier. He also says that he was hired by Barneys, and he collaborated with Jay on the theme for the display.
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