Today, Al Sharpton met with the CEO of Barneys New York in Harlem to discuss allegations of racial profiling at the high-end retailer, while the New York state attorney general’s office demanded its own meeting with Barneys. “We had a very candid and open meeting today to begin a dialogue,” Sharpton shared after the private meeting with Barneys CEO Mark Lee at Sharpton’s National Action Network office. Lee claims Barneys’ own initial investigation showed no employees were at fault in the two incidents, although he did say the retailer does not allow discrimination at all and would like “to be part of the solution” to racial profiling. Lee also spoke about Barneys’ relationship with Jay-Z, who has been pressure to remove himself from the retailers brand since the profiling allegations started. “We deeply regret that these recent events have distracted from the great work of the Shawn Carter Foundation, and we offer our sincere apologies to Mr. Carter,” Lee said claims. We will have more as the story unravels.
