Philly Mayor Evicts Made In America Music Festival; Jay-Z Responds In Open Letter

Since 2012, Benjamin Franklin Parkway served as the home for Jay-Z’s Made In America music festival. Known to bring millions of dollars in revenue and multiple opportunities for employment in the state of Philadelphia, it looks like things are coming to an end. According to PHILLY.com, the city of Philadelphia will no longer allow Jay-Z to hold the music festival at The Parkway, starting in 2019.

Due to the abrupt news by Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, JAY-Z decided to write an open letter addressing the situation, as he learned about the news through numerous media outlets:

“We are disappointed that the mayor of the city of Philadelphia would evict us from the heart of the city, through a media outlet, without a sit-down meeting, notice, dialogue, or proper communication. It signifies zero appreciation for what Made In America has built alongside the phenomenal citizens of this city. In fact, this administration immediately greeted us with a legal letter trying to stop the 2018 event.”

Jay-Z goes on to state how much in revenue Made In America has brought to the city:

“Since 2012, Made in America, one of the only minority-owned festivals, has had a positive $102.8 million economic impact to Philadelphia, and the festival has paid $3.4 million in rent to the city. Made in America employs more than 1,000 Philadelphians each day and 85 percent of our partners are Philadelphia-based companies.

We have studies and reports that prove the festival significantly contributes to Philadelphia’s tourism bottom line. We cannot comment if the mayor has reviewed any of these materials.”

You can read Jay-Z open letter in full here.

Made In America 2018 takes place September 1-2 with Nicki Minaj and Post Malone serving as headliners.

Flashback: Made In America 2017 (Day One); Made In American 2017 (Day Two) featuring JAY-Z