Politics As Usual? Jay-Z’s Performance For Trump Friend Tom Brady Follows Accusations He Supports Republicans

Jay-Z prior to the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 final match between Borussia Dortmund vs. Real Madrid CF at Wembley Stadium on June 1, 2024, in London, England. | Source: Sebastian Frej/MB Media / Getty

T he man who is widely considered to be the greatest rapper of all time isn’t helping to refute the narrative that he’s moving closer to conservatism following a recent string of events.

Just days after being accused of supporting a Republican-led effort to gut public education for low-income students, Jay-Z took to the stage for a rare performance at the New England Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony for NFL legend Tom Brady, who is a longtime friend of former President Donald Trump .

While Jay-Z has never particularly been a political figure – he was an influential endorser of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns – those two recent instances have prompted questions about his partisan leanings, if any.

Jay-Z’s surprise performance came Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. He performed his fan favorite track, “Public Service Announcement (Interlude),” in which he raps: “Fellow Americans, it is with the utmost pride and sincerity that I present this recording, as a living testament and recollection of history in the making during our generation.”

Jay-Z encouraged the audience: “Put one hand in the air for the GOAT, Mr. Tom Brady, tonight.”

To the uninitiated, the performance was simply a tip of the cap from one GOAT (greatest of all time) to another.

But some skeptics wondered why Jay-Z, whose performances have been few and far between in recent years, would lend such a hearty co-sign to an admitted friend and fan of Donald Trump during an election year. Some fans asked that question while also noting that Jay-Z didn’t even perform at any of the dozens of high-profile celebrations of hip-hop enjoying 50 years of existence.

That the performance came on the heels of Jay-Z and Roc Nation backing a program in Pennsylvania that Democratic critics say aims to gut public education certainly didn’t matter, either.

In case you missed it, a new campaign underway in Pennsylvania is aiming to get students from low-income households in Philadelphia into the city’s private schools. The Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program is spearheaded by Jay-Z and his Roc Nation entertainment company, which also refers to the PASS grants as “Lifetime Scholarships.”

Roc Nation had publicly pledged an investment of $300 million towards the cause. “PASS – which is also known as Senate Bill 757 – is legislation aimed at increasing education opportunities for underprivileged youth attending the state’s lowest performing public schools,” a press release by the group stated.

But critics, including teachers’ groups, have called out the campaign for being heavily influenced by Republicans to gut public education and pointed to Jay-Z’s friendship with a key figure of the campaign.

“This ain’t it,” wrote the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “And for good measure, here’s a still of @sc and Jeffrey Yass, PA’s richest man, potential Trump Treasury Secretary, and the force behind the voucher push in PA.”

The push comes as House Democrats are advancing a bill for $5.1 billion in school funding, capping charter schools’ annual tuition fees.

Yass, a billionaire, is the largest megadonor to Republican federal campaigns this election cycle, according to CNBC , totaling over $46 million to date.

Roc Nation’s managing director of philanthropy rejected the criticism as invalid.

“Philly in particular, or Pennsylvania in particular, what’s alarming is the proficiency stats. 75% of (eighth-grade) students aren’t proficient in math, and 47% of (eighth-grade) students aren’t proficient in language arts, and when you look at the bottom 15% of the school system, the lowest performing schools, those numbers become even more dire,” Dania Diaz said this week . “We are supporters of the public school system … But numbers don’t lie, and the data shows that there must be another avenue for success for the state’s most vulnerable students.”

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