Jay Z has said that he plans to boycott Cristal champagne, claiming that comments made about the brand's association with hip-hoppers by Cristal MD Frederic Rouzaud were racist. A number of rappers, including Jay Z himself, Fiddy, Kanye West and Mos Def, have name checked the brand in their song lyrics, of course, and Rouzaud was asked in an interview with the Economist if he thought the champagne's association with the 'bling lifestyle' could be detrimental to the brand. "That's a good question, but what can we do?" he responded. "We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."
Jay Z now says that he will pull the product from his chain of hostelries, and has released a statement which reads: "It has come to my attention that the managing director of Cristal views the 'hip-hop' culture as unwelcome attention. I view his comments as racist and will no longer support any of his products through any of my various brands, including The 40/40 Club, nor in my personal life."
As a point of information, it was in fact the writer of the article, one Gideon Rachman, who used the phrase "unwelcome attention". Given his comments, it seems entirely plausible that it's the hip-hop community's associations with gun violence, homophobia and the objectification of women that are as responsible as anything for Rouzaud's reservations. Or he could, of course, be the elitist racist Jay Z clearly thinks he is.