http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/18/jay-z-beyonce-baltimore-ferguson-protests-bail-moneyay Z and Beyoncé bailed out protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, activist says
In since-deleted tweets, activist and film-maker Dream Hampton, who worked with Jay Z on his 2010 autobiography, claimed the pair ‘wired tens of thousands’
Jay Z and Beyoncé: ‘They gave cuz that’s what they do.’ Photograph: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Jessica Glenza in New York
@JessicaGlenza
Monday 18 May 2015 10.46 EDT
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.
Hampton’s original tweets claimed Jay Z (given name Shawn Carter) and his wife Beyoncé helped supply bail money for protesters, and discussed the difficulties of organizing when protesters are thrown in jail.
They were later deleted, but were screengrabbed by the hip-hop magazine Complex.
“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.”
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