Jay-Z wants to be sure there’s black people in the room deciding Roc Nation lawsuit
The rapper says the brand suing him over use of the Roc Nation logo needs to wait until there is fair racial representation among arbitrators
Jay-Z is in the middle of a lawsuit dispute over the handling of his RocNation company logo but talks between the parties have stalled because the music mogul wants a more diversified arbitration team, TMZ reports.
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The rapper is being sued by Iconix Brand over the use of the RocNation logo after the company claimed they paid Jay $204 million for merchandising rights only to be undercut after they saw the unauthorized use of the logo on MLB gear.
The parties planned to meet in arbitration to come to an agreement. However, Jay-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, said there is a Nov. 30 deadline to pick an arbitrator but the list lacks diversity – meaning too many white folks to pick from the arbitrator pot.
Spiro says there were no blacks listed on the extensive list of 200 arbitrators. Once they initiated a complained they were then given a list of six arbitrators “of color.” The problem with that is there’s a conflict since one of them is a partner at the law firm representing Iconix.
Jay’s definitely got 99 problems with Iconix being one.
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