Jay Z and Beyoncé Reportedly Wired Money to Bail Out Ferguson, Baltimore Protesters
According to a since-deleted series of tweets from filmmaker and Black Lives Matter activist Dream Hampton, Jay Z and Beyoncé have anonymously donated “tens of thousands” of dollars to help post bail for arrested demonstrators in Ferguson and Baltimore over the last several months. Hampton, who collaborated with Jay Z on his annotated lyrics book Decoded
Complex’s Trace William Cowen complied screenshots of the tweets, some of which you can see below:
While those tweets were deleted (perhaps on Jay Z’s request), Hampton kept this one up as of Monday afternoon:
They gave cuz that's what they do. & should I ever get major bread, I'm gonna be Howard Hughes, wiring out money anonymously too
— dream hampton (@dreamhampton) May 18, 2015
She later confirmed to The Guardian that the couple did help provide funds to bail out protesters, but would not provide any further specifics.
Predictably, conservatives on Twitter and across the web have been expressing outrage over the covert support that the celebrity couple provided those arrested in the protests. Fox Nation linked to Yahoo News’ article about the donations but changed the headline to read: “Jay-Z and Beyoncé Posting Bail for Anti-Police Protesters.” The Drudge Report did the same, but put “protesters” in quotes. Or, as the WND website put it, “Jay-Z, Beyoncé Bail Out Baltimore Rioters.”
Meanwhile, Geraldo Rivera said he thought rebuilding the burnt-down CVS would have been a better use of funds:
If Jay-Z put up Baltimore bail money-wish instead he invested in rebuilding CVS in W. Baltimore & provided summer recreation for local teens
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) May 18, 2015
[Photo via screengrab]
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