Guardian- An activist and film-maker who has worked with Jay Z claims that the hip-hop star contributed “tens of thousands” of dollars to free protesters who could not pay their bail following anti-police brutality demonstrations in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri. The activist, Dream Hampton, later deleted her tweets and called them “error-ridden”, but confirmed to the Guardian that Jay Z helped bail protesters out. “I’m going to tweet this and I don’t care if Jay gets mad,” wrote Hampton, at 8.38am on Sunday. “When we needed money for bail for Baltimore protesters, I asked hit Jay up [sic], as I had for Ferguson, wired tens of thousands in mins.” Another tweet read: “When [Black Lives Matter] needed infrastructure money for the many chapters that we’re growing like beautiful dandelions, Carters wrote a huge check.” She continued: “... and more stuff, too much to list actually, that they always insist folk keep quiet.” You know what is a great cause, but takes a lot of time and effort? Protesting. Well, why waste your time protesting when you can drop a minuscule amount of your net worth to bail the protestors out and get 1,000 times more credit than a person waving a sign and chanting in the street would? Like Hova said, what's a mob to a King? Must be nice to be filthy rich. Look, there aren't many people, outside the people that are actually doing it, who appreciate a crowd marching in the streets and getting in the way of the average citizens day to day life. It may not be right that they get locked up, but the average person isn't going to feel sympathy for someone that doubled their commute to work. However, what aides in a primarily black cause faster than the support of the first couple of hip hop? Let's be real, if you attach Jay-Z or Beyonce's name to anything it instantly gains more credibility. I almost feel like I should grab my picket sign and hit the busiest intersection I can find. After all, the streets is watching. I can't let popular culture leave me behind. Don't get it twisted either. Jay and Bey don't make any moves unless they could potentially be profitable business moves. They aren't costing themselves any fans by bucking up a couple hundred grand for the black community. If anything, they are gaining fans that they didn't have in the first place. Jay-Z and Beyonce bail me out of the clink and I am buying every single piece of shit they have ever put their name on. Shit, I would buy a lifetime subscription to 'Tidal', and a cabinet full of L'Oreal cosmetic supplies. I would play 'Kingdom Come' on loop for a year and fill my closet with Yonce shirts. Nothing ups the street cred, that may have been comprised through years of business ventures and bowties, like bringing a bunch of people back to the street. I am sure they did 'insist' that this guy keep his mouth. But, if your main concern is staying anonymous then you don't wire money to the guy responsible for distributing $5 'I Can't Breathe' t-shirts to the entire NBA. That's the type of person that will disobey anyone's request if it means getting his name in the news. I don't care if Jay and Bey wanted people to know about their contributions or not, but you can't play both sides of the fence. You can't be anonymous and still tell people. As Larry David would say, "it's fake philanthropy and it's faux anonymity".
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