The afternoon began with a full-throated defense from the casino developers, SL Green and Roc Nation. Marc Holliday, the SL Green CEO, called the bid a “singular ability to transform lives,” while Sharpton acknowledged the heckles with a grin.
“I’ve been booed by the best,” he shot back, before framing Roc Nation’s involvement as a matter of equity: with Jay-Z at the helm, the project, he said, could ensure that diversity in Times Square was more than just rhetoric. As Sharpton put it, “Jay-Z is nobody’s token, he’s the token booth” — a quip underscoring his argument that Roc Nation’s role would bring new voices into the heart of the district.
But when the floor opened, the response from Broadway workers was swift and emotional. Loretta, a wardrobe union member, unleashed a lyrical rejection of the casino, warning it would leave the Great White Way “in disarray” and “too precious and rare to be lost and abolished.”
