The Issue: The extravagant arrangements for the birth of Blue Ivy Carter at Lenox Hill Hospital.
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It’s a disgrace that hip-hop “artists” Jay-Z and Beyoncé were given preferential treatment at Lenox Hill Hospital (“Beyonce’s Hospital Mates Baby-Bumped,” Jan. 9).
It’s a hospital, not a concert hall. They should have no different privileges in a hospital than a banker, a contractor or, for that matter, someone who is unemployed.
I’m sick of society treating these pampered prima donnas like this. They’re no more special than you or me.
Guy McCallen
Queens
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Congratulations to Jay-Z and his wife on the birth of Blue Ivy.
Their over-the-top actions at Lenox Hill Hospital are hard to swallow — for this I blame the hospital management. Are they some kind of royalty?
And, the money paid for “gifts” for the new baby is obscene, given the millions who are financially hurting in this country.
Ed Carey
Port Saint Lucie, Fla.
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This money Beyoncé and Jay-Z spent on their special delivery arrangements would have been of better use as a donation to a children’s charity to help babies born with defects.
Why are we always critical of other countries where a privileged few can get such special treatment, but not this?
Ray Hackinson
Ozone Park
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What an absolutely disgusting display of entitlement to keep other parents and family members from being able to see their own newborns just because they were there at the same time.
Lenox Hill should be ashamed for allowing this to happen.
What makes a celebrity baby more important than a non-celebrity baby? We’re used to celebrities getting special treatment at stores and other public locations, but this is outrageous.
I hope the inconvenienced parents sue both the hospital and King and Queen Carter.
Lori Cruz
Bay Shore
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In today’s economy, it is a shame for someone to do such an extravagant thing as reserving an entire floor in a respectable New York City hospital. Additionally, they allegedly restricted the use of cellphones by the staff.
Who are Beyoncé and Jay-Z to demand such a service?
I hate to inform them that Beyoncé was not the first person in the world to give birth. Her and Shawn Carter’s mothers probably were not given such extreme protective measures.
Mothers in other parts of Lenox Hill (designated for the common people) also gave birth without a private floor, and their babies, God willing, will turn out just the same as Beyoncé’s.
In a supposedly classless society, money still rules the world.
I can understand that the hospital likes when someone pays extra, but to go to such extremes, as it did for these two, is immoral. Shame on Lenox Hill.
W. Bodkin
Manhattan
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I was a little surprised at Lenox Hill for allowing a celebrity to take over the hospital.
Why was the bullet-proof room necessary? And why were the hallways off limits to other new parents?
Come on, Jay-Z. Donate some money to a needy clinic benefiting the children of New York or New Jersey — I bet they do not require bullet-proofing.
Marie Madonna
Ridgewood, NJ
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With all the turmoil in the world, the economy in the tank and the choice of the next president in the works, the media should not be giving such coverage to a couple whose pampered lifestyle shows a lack of consideration for others.
This is another example of how today’s society has been so degraded and captivated by superficiality.
Adam and Eve are the “first couple,” not Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
Beruta Kukshis
North Arlington, NJ
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The behavior of Lenox Hill Hospital’s administration concerning the recent birth of Blue Ivy Carter is disgusting.
There’s no child born to any woman that’s more important than the next.
S. Crowningshield
Las Vegas