Occupy Wall Street calls Jay-Z a “Bloodsucker”

Jay-Z has drawn heavy criticism from the organizers of the Occupy Wall Street protest after his clothing company Rocawear produced a T-shirt that bears the slogan “Occupy Wall Street,” without sharing any of the profits with the movements.

A spokesman for the protest, which is part of the worldwide ‘Occupy’ movement referred to the rapper, who co-owns the clothing label along with hip-hop mogul Damon Dash, as a “bloodsucker.” The T-shirt bears the slogan ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ with the ‘W’ scrawled out and an added ‘S’ at the end, in which they make it clear that they will not be giving the movement any money from clothing sales. The company has since removed the shirts from its website.

Rocawear offered a statement to Businessinsider.com:

“The ‘Occupy All Streets’ T shirt was created in support of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. Rocawear strongly encourages all forms of constructive expression, whether it be artistic, political or social. ‘Occupy All Streets’ is our way of reminding people that there is change to be made everywhere, not just on Wall Street. At this time we have not made an official commitment to monetarily support the movement.”

Patrick Bruner, spokesman for Occupy Wall Street, responded to this as followed:

Naturally there will be some bloodsuckers who come out of the woodwork. We have a screen-printers guild on camp, and it’s easy to find many other T-shirts that actually benefit the cause. In regards to the question, a much better way to show your support for Occupy Wall Street would be to show up and participate in this momentous occasion and help to shape a new and better future.

Stay tuned.