$60 Frank Ocean t-shirt sparks outrage
Singer Frank Ocean’s new t-shirt that has “PrEP,” the name of an HIV prophylactic drug, has garnered outrage among his fans and critics for its high cost.
Ocean is currently selling the shirt, which comes in black or white, for $60 on his website.
Notably, the New York chapter of Act Up, an international nonprofit that has worked for decades to fight against HIV/AIDS, was critical of Ocean on Twitter Saturday.
“Sounds familiar to a pharmaceutical company that marks up the price of PrEP to over $2,000/month while it costs $6 to make a month supply,” the group tweeted. “This is not it Frank.”
A $60 tee with “PrEP” on it.
Sounds familiar to a pharmaceutical company that marks up the price of PrEP to over $2,000/month while it costs $6 to make a month supply. This is not it Frank. https://t.co/TEFhi2UO5O
— ACT UP New York (@actupny) October 19, 2019
“It’s wonderful to have PrEP awareness, but we to have it in a meaningful way,” Jason Rosenberg told BuzzFeed News.
It’s unclear on what Ocean plans to do with the profits from the shirts.
The singer’s PrEP+ party in New York on Thursday night also received flak, with critics saying that the guest list was “overwhelmingly white,” glossed over important LGBTQ history and did little to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, BuzzFeed reports.
“It definitely seems the whole roll out of PrEP+ is really out of touch,” Rosenberg, who was in attendance, told the news source.
“I didn’t see anything about PrEP, didn’t see anything about HIV, no community organizations. If anything, the only awareness was the name.”
The party was framed as a tribute to the city’s 1980s queer club scene.
Ocean released a statement on Tumblr Friday addressing the criticism for the party, but he has yet to address the criticism surrounding the cost of the shirts.
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