Global superstar and billionaire businessman Jay-Z has hit out at the company behind his Gold Jay-Z cologne, Parlux Fragrances, at a New York court this week.
The Empire State of Mind singer, born Shawn Carter, told the jury that the company’s ultimately “lazy” and “crappy” ideas led to the breakdown of their business relationship and the perfumer’s contract lawsuit against him.
In court, Carter trashed the fragrance provider for rolling out a UK advertising campaign that was never sent to him for approval.
An email from his aide at the time of the Superdrug launch said: “Parlux is out of control [...] they are rogue.”
However, Carter continued to work with the firm, despite the turbulent relationship.
“It was a tough relationship, but I was still trying to make something amazing,” the rapper reportedly told the jury.
Parlux’s parent Perfumania Holdings filed a suit against Carter in 2016 for US$18m, three years after the fragrance hit shelves in Macy’s, claiming that the hip-hop icon failed to promote his own fragrance.
At the trial, the company behind Jessica Simpson’s fragrance line and Billie Eilish’s recently launched eponymous scent, depicted the 51-year-old as an absent promoter who cost the company millions after he abandoned the project.
The company expected to make around $100m off sales of the cologne within five years, but only chased in $15m in the first year and $6m in the second.
Following the filing of the initial suit against him, S Carter Enterprises, Jay-Z’s company, retaliated with a counter-sue that accused the company of failing to pay him $2.7m in royalties.
With the company breaching its agreement by not paying him, Carter exercised his right to terminate the contract.