Beyonce, the Queen Bey herself, is putting her reign to use for good. Bey, along with hubby Jay-Z and tour partner Justin Timberlake, are in talks with the Guns for Greatness program to exchange guns for concert tickets.
And we’re not talking the Michelle Obama-style guns, either.
The program is spearheaded by Michael (Blue) Williams, who manages artists like Cee Lo Green andOutkast. It will be New York City’s first private sector gun buyback program. He chose to work with Beyonce because not only is she Beyonce, but she also voiced her support for gun control measures in a recentpublic service announcement (not the Hov kind) following the tragic Newtown massacre.
“The Beyoncé show is coming to Brooklyn; the Jay-Z show is coming to Yankee Stadium,” Williams said. “Our goal is to reach out to individuals who are in my industry, in my world and who I have an association with and get their support. I think we should all work together to help get guns off the streets.”
The New York Daily News reports that New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is considering the program. ““We want to get as many guns off the streets, and if this works, we’d like to support it,” he said, but noted that it “needs more study” and that police would need to be involved.
Williams has raised $75,000 for the Guns for Greatness program so far and is gunning (see what we did there?) for $100,000. Williams says the program aims specifically at the young African American and Latino male demographics, citing that “95% of shooting victims and shooting suspects in New York City are either black or Latino.”
Though Beyonce, Jay-Z and Timberlake haven’t yet officially signed on, this sounds like a great cause and an offer that they won’t be able to refuse.
Watch Beyonce’s ‘Demand a Plan’ PSA
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