By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
Harry Belafonte and Jay Z may not have an official beef, but both superstars are currently at odds over some recent comments the actor made about the rapper and his singer wife Beyonce. According to Belafonte, neither are doing enough for the community and both lack a huge degree of social responsibility. Beyonce’s rep responded and sent a list of her contributions and charitable acts to the media, while Jay Z said nothing for many months. However, Jay Z finally responded in an interview with Rap Radar, and in the interview he controversially said that he didn’t appreciate Belafonte’s remarks and he’s mere presence enough is charity because it inspires little black boys everywhere:
“I’m offended by that because first of all, and this is going to sound arrogant, but my presence is charity. Just who I am. Just like Obama’s is. Obama provides hope. Whether he does anything, the hope that he provides for a nation, and outside of America is enough. Just being who he is. You’re the first black president. If he speaks on any issue or anything he should be left alone…I felt Belafonte he just went about it wrong. Like the way he did it in the media, and then he big’d up Bruce Springsteen or somebody. And it was like, “whoa,” you just sent the wrong message all the way around…Bruce Springsteen is a great guy. You’re this Civil Rights activist and you just big’d up the white guy against me in the white media. And I’m not saying that in a racial way. I’m just saying what it is. The fact of what it was. And that was just the wrong way to go about it.”
Harry Belafonte has responded to Jay Z’s comments and says he didn’t mean to be hurtful and wants to speak with him and Beyonce. He also says what he said was not a direct attack on Bey or Jay, and he was simply answering a question at a press conference:
“I would be hard pressed to tell Mr. Jay Z what to do with this time and his fortune. All I can be critical is of what he is not doing. This conflict that is emerging was not from me as a direct attack on Jay Z or Beyonce. I was at a press conference in Switzerland. Questions were raised by the international press. They asked about the artists and the social engagement of the past based on a film we were watching…and how artists responded earlier in my life and how they responded today.
“And I made the observation that the highly powerful voice that our community has – Black America has – there is so much celebrity power that it was sad to see that the collective of the celebrity power had not been applied to bring consciousness to the inequities that we face.
“Artist that heard that responded in a very strong way. You’ll find that Jamie Foxx, you’ll find Chuck D [of Public Enemy]…you find that any number of highly profiled people have taken that critique and called for [a meeting]. We’ve sat. We’ve talked. And I will tell you now that these people that I’ve just mentioned are officially behind Dream Defenders. They are prepared to come down. They are prepared to perform. I would hope that Jay Z would not take personally what was said because it was not said about him personally.”
Belafonte also says he doesn’t want to go back and forth in the media, but talk in private:
“Having said that, I would like to say to Jay Z, to Beyonce: My heart is wide open and filled with nothing but hope and the promise that we can sit and have a one-on-one. And lets understand each other rather than try to answer these questions and these nuances in a public place.”
We hope these two can talk peacefully in private and come to some sort of understanding. Especially since both are so passionate about what happened to Trayvon Martin. Check out the video below:
SMH. All of this could have been taken care of with a simple phone call. This is why black people can’t make progress. We’re too busy trashing each other in the media.
He should have asked for a sit down from day one!
Agreed.
This is just one of those situations where I think respect was lost. The older generation always likes to remind the younger generation why they’re so much better and it causes a division. It makes the young generation not even want to interact with the older generation. Belafonte went about this the wrong way period.
Good luck getting that sit down…
If you want to connect with the younger generation, why trash the people they look up to?
All of this should have been avoided. By calling out Bey and Jay, it just looked very catty and personal. That’s why I respect how Oprah reached out to Jay and told him she had an issue with him using the N word. They talked about it like adults and found an understanding. That’s just how it needs to be done.
Doesn’t Belafonte have a white wife and a known reputation of chasing behind white women? *rolls eyes*
Hold on, what?! *goes to Google*
Oh damn.
Well hopefully they can squash it and talk about some things when all the drama winds down…
Belafonte been famous for decades! You mean to tell me he doesn’t know how to answer questions without being messy? What a shame.
I already gave my two cents on the situation. I’m not a fan of black folks dogging out other black folks to a biased and majority white media.
Cosign.
So now he realizes he shouldn’t have done it the way he did…interesting. *sips tea*
He doesn’t want to talk about it to the media now, huh? Oh the irony.
It’s probably best both of them just drop it. It’s not a good look for either of them or the black community with everything going on right now.
He meant no harm.
I think Jay will hear him out since it’s clear he didn’t mean to attack them. They are both grown ups who can get past this I’m sure.
Sounds like they had a misunderstanding. I hope they can move on from it tho.
So basically, Mr. Belafonte only called Jay out as a way to try to get him to join his charity??? Wouldn’t an email or better yet, a phone call have sufficed?
They say “with age comes wisdom”, but sometimes I wonder.