A resurfaced clip of billionaire Jay-Z suggesting he’d refuse to lend a cousin $4,800 has shocked and divided fans
- Comments from Jay-Z about money have recently resurfaced online and gone viral.
- Some people think the rapper said he would refuse to loan his cousin $4,800.
- Some viewers expressed outrage against Jay-Z, who has a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes.
Fans are shocked and divided over resurfaced comments from billionaire rapper Jay-Z, which they believe suggest he would refuse to loan his cousin $4,800.
The comments were made during an episodeof “Hart to Heart,” a celebrity talk show hosted by comedian Kevin Hart, which airs on the streaming service Peacock.
The full episode was first released in 2022, but a segment which includes the controversial comments wasuploaded to YouTubein April 2023.
During the episode, the rapper discussed the topic of how money can come between friends and family members, and described a scenario where someone is asked by a cousin for a loan of $4,800 to fund a business venture that they say would make $2 million in return.
“You gotta explain to him life isn’t like that. Money isn’t free, no one’s giving out opportunities, and then he like, ‘Oh, you don’t believe in my dreams,'” Jay-Z said, at which point the YouTube clip from the episode ends.
It is not clear whether he’s describing a hypothetical situation or a real event, but the clip was uploaded to the social media site X (formerly Twitter) on September 30 along with the caption, “I’ll NEVER get over a billionaire saying some bullshit like this!”
The post went viral, receiving over 35 million views and thousands of likes and re-posts, and divided opinion among viewers, some of whom appeared to interpret the comments as a true event in the rapper’s life.
“Jay Z has 2.5 billion dollars, his cousin asked for 4800 and he said no. To put that into perspective, that’d be the equivalent of someone who made 50,000 a year being asked to give a dime,” a user wrote in one viral post that received 80,000 likes.
According to Forbes, the “Empire State of Mind” rapper has a net worth of $2.5 billion, while his wife Beyoncé has a net worth of $540 million.
On October 3, the entertainment news account Daily Loud posted about the comments in apostthat read, “JAY-Z says he refused to lend his cousin $4,800,” receiving 22.9 million views.
An intense debate erupted as the clip circulated, with people speculating over what the rapper’s comments truly meant and discussing whether they agreed with them.
Some X users expressed outrage at the suggestion that the rapper wouldn’t make a loan to a family member. Others defended him, saying they felt he shouldn’t be obligated to give his money away and that personal loans can cause complications in relationships, with some sharing stories of making such loans themselves and regretting it.
A handful of users pointed out that contextappears to be missing or that the rapper did not explicitly say that he has or would refuse a cousin’s request for a loan. Representatives for Jay-Z did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
Some fans defending the rapper pointed out that he had previously invested in his cousin’s restaurant business, as reported by the New York Post in 2011.
Jamar White, Jay-Z’s cousin, told the Post at the time, “Jay-Z’s always been like an older brother to me, but he’s also a businessman, and once he heard our plans, he was confident it would be very successful.”
In 2019, Jay-Z became the first hip-hop artist to reach billionaire status. While he initially made millions of dollars from his music, he continued to gain wealth from various business ventures such as his acquisition of the music streaming platform Tidal and the success of Rocawear, a clothing brand he co-founded in 1999.
Correction: October 5, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated Beyoncé’s reported wealth. According to Forbes, her net worth is $540 million, not $540 billion.
