Hov took part in “festivities” at Barclays in noticeably different attire


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Over the course of a week, several professional athletes have donned the now iconic “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts during pre-game warm-ups, be it Derrick Rose getting shots up before a Bulls game this past Saturday, or several NFL players, i.e. Reggie Bush, stretching before opening kick-off. The trend has spread much faster in the NBA–understandably so, there are NBA games nightly, whereas the NFL only plays multiple games on 1 day of the week–and Monday night, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the Cavs traveled to Brooklyn to play the Nets in what became a very high profile contest. The game itself wasn’t much of one–the Cavs won by 22 (110-88)–and less than 36 hours later, the Nets would announce that they’ll be accepting trade offers for their three best players: Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez.

However, Barclays Center was a major center of attraction for other reasons Monday night. Protesters held a die-in outside the Barclays Center during the game, while Jay Z and Beyonce were inside mingling with the royal couple, Prince William and Kate Middleton, who wrapped up their New York tour last night at a fundraising gala at the MET. Prior to the game, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving were seen warming up in “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts along with teammate and several Nets players, among them were Deron Williams, Kevin Garnett and Jarrett Jack and Alan Anderson. The four Nets players would pose for a picture with former Nets owner Jay Z on the court prior to the game, and though Jay was dressed in all-black, his “I Can’t Breathe” shirt was noticeably missing.

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Today, a New York Times article told the story of how the t-shirts came to be worn by so many players on both teams the night of the royal couple’s visit, in which hundreds of media personnel would be present. The author of the article, Scott Cacciola, told the inspiring story of how Dream Hampton–author of Jay Z’s book Decoded and a good friend of Mr. Carter’s–got together with Michael Skolnik, Russell Simmons’ political director to get over 80 t-shirts printed in and into the hands of the people that could get it past security at the Barclays Center, all while soliciting the coordination and cooperation of Deron Williams–who delivered the shirts to his teammates–and Jay Z (It’s worth noting that Jarrett Jack had already printed several shirts for personal use.). On Monday night, one of the immediate questions hoards of people on social media raised once the pictures began circulating was, ‘where’s Jay’s t-shirt?’, which is something Skolnik briefly touched on in the Times article.

The Nets, meanwhile, received their T-shirts from Justice League NYC around the same time. Williams, Kevin Garnett and Alan Anderson all joined Jack in wearing them. A photograph of them with Jay-Z before the game spread quickly on the Internet. Jay-Z did not wear one, but only because the T-shirts were enormous, Skolnik said. “He’s not going to put on a 2XL that goes down to his knees,” Skolnik said.

Why not? With everything that’s going on relating to the death of Eric Garner, a grand jury decision so baffling former president George W. Bush can’t wrap his head around it and protests that have underscored nearly every single major event in the city for a fortnight, it’s a one-time fashion statement that kept Jay Z from joining several other multi-millionaire celebrities that also have sponsorships and corporate relationships in using their platform to relay an important message to the world? In Brooklyn, at the Barclays Center, and with the Nets no less, three facets of Jay Z’s life that he referenced ad nausea on his latest album. If there’s another reason as to why Jay opted not to let “I Can’t Breathe” be emblazoned across his chest for one night, we’d love to hear it, but let’s not just accept the fact that the shirt was too big.