(AllHipHop News) Jay-Z’s partnership with the NFL is off to a rough start.
Earlier this week, Jay announced that the new “Inspire Change” initiative with the NFL would benefit two charities.
Roc Nation and the NFL earmarked over $400,000 to two organizations, the Crushers Club and Better Boys Foundation Family Services.
But the participation of the Crushers Club in Chicago raised more than a few eyebrows when the director of came under fire for racism.
Users began to circulate old social media posts posted by the non-profit’s founder Sally Hazelgrove taken in October of 2016.
The photos featured Hazelgrove gleefully cutting off the dreadlocks of African American men who needed a “better life.”
Today, the NFL’s #InspireChange “social justice” group is funding & visiting a non-profit that wants to cut off the locks of Chicago Black youth for “a better life.” https://t.co/JdvWliIEqv pic.twitter.com/GpPV0DqK2M
— Resist Programming 🛰 (@RzstProgramming) September 5, 2019
Sally Hazelgrove just issued a statement acknowledging that the posts were real.
Even though the students requested that she cut off their hair, Hazelgrove has apologized for the pictures after a storm of criticism.
“This was something they asked me to do because they were looking to change their identities,” said Hazelgrove, who has two biracial children.
“It was not meant to be insensitive,” she added, noting that she had biracial children.
While Jay-Z, the NFL or Roc Nation has yet to comment on the matter, the flub out of the gate has raised questions as to how effective the partnership will be.
Some fans roasted Roc Nation and the NFL for not having a better vetting process, while others still defended the partnership, including a young man named Kobe Richardson, who credited the Crushers Club with saving his life.
Message from Kobe pic.twitter.com/3CdH28pCUE
— crushersclub (@crushersclub) September 6, 2019