used was fraudulent, even though the customer provided proper identification at the time of the purchase. The officers questioned Christian on how he was able to afford the purchased belt, and accused him of using a fraudulent card. He was handcuffed, detained in a holding cell for two hours and interrogated further. He was later released after the police contacted Chase Bank to verify ownership of the card. Another African American shopper, Kayla Phillips, came forward with a similar claim after she purchased a $2,500 Céline handbag with her debit card. Both shoppers believe they were targeted because of their race after they purchased costly items and have stated they intend on filing discrimination lawsuits against the store. As a result of these high-profile cases, Al Sharpton threatened to boycott the store in October 2013. Sharpton compared Barneys practice of racial profiling to the controversial stop-and-frisk policy practiced by the NYPD. Within days of Sharpton's boycott announcement, fans petitioned rapper and businessman Jay-Z to sever ties with the retailer with whom he had a partnership. Jay-Z responded saying that he would look into the matter more thoroughly rather than make a snap judgment stating, "I move and speak based on facts and not emotion." In November 2013, Jay-Z stated that his deal with Barneys would continue as planned, with the condition that he be placed in a leadership role on a committee specifically organized to deal with racial profiling in the store. Other conditions required that all of the proceeds of the BNY SCC collection be donated to Jay-Z's charity, the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation. This was a major increase from the 25% of the proceeds that was initially agreed upon. As well, Barneys agreed to donate 10% of all retail of all stores nationwide as well as its web store, Barneys.com, on November 20, 2013, which would guarantee a total of at least one million dollars. Live butterfly display In 2018, Barneys used live butterflies to introduce a new line of jewelry and accessories, asking customers and employees to interact with monarch butterflies as they flitted around display cases in the Beverly Hills store. PETA reported "that there were many dead and dying butterflies languishing around the display area, behind plants and in plant beds." Barneys responded by banning the use of live butterflies from any future promotions and making a donation to PETA as an apology. Labor issues