Jay-Z's Kalief Browder Documentary Wins 2018 Peabody Award
Jay-Z can now add a Peabody Award to the accolades he already has.
READ: NY State Of Progress: What Closing Of Rikers, Raise The Age & Tuition-Free College Really Mean
The rapper and entrepreneur's 2017 documentary series, Time: The Kalief Browder Story, received one of the 2018 Peabody Awards that were awarded in the documentary category. The six episode miniseries was one of nine documentaries that won out of an original 1,200 entries narrowed down to 60 entries, according to AXS. Jay-Z served as an executive producer for the documentary.
Released in January of last year, Time: The Kalief Browder Story, told the story of Kalief Browder, a 16-year-old high student accused of stealing a backpack who spent three years in jail (two of them in solitary confinement) at Rikers Island, without ever being convicted of a crime.
In 2015, two years after being released, Browder died by suicide.
"I believe this young man, his story, will save a lot of lives," Jay-Z first said when promoting the documentary. "What was done to him was a huge injustice and I think people will see his story and realize, man, this is going on. This is not like one case that happened. This is happening a lot for people – especially where I come from in the boroughs and the Marcy Projects and the Bronx and Brooklyn and all these places."
The same year Time: The Kalief Browder Story came out, news of Rikers Island being closed in the next 10 years was announced.
Source: AXS