‘Accountability is important’: Rashad Bilal addresses backlash to viral Invest Fest comments

The conference, which drew attendees from across the country, became the topic of vitriol for the Earn Your Leisure founder, who suggests he focused too much on the negative comments about ‘his baby.’

Less than a week after Rashad Bilal of Earn Your Leisure made remarks to various detractors regarding the recent edition of Invest Fest in Atlanta, Bilal is walking back some of those comments.

During a recent episode of “Market Monday” with co-host Ian Dunlap and EYL co-founder Troy Mullings, Bilal addressed his comments in which he said he was “off the Black thing” regarding Invest Fest and stated that he should have centered his energy on the good that came out of Invest Fest and not the “hate.”

“Accountability is important because you don’t never want to disrespect people that support you,” he stated around the 40-minute mark of the episode. “Sometimes in your anger, you drag people into it that don’t deserve it.”

He added, “People that’s been rocking with us from day one, they don’t deserve it. Y’all tell me like, ‘Yo, if you don’t want to do Invest Fest, we don’t have to do Invest Fest.’ It won’t hurt us financially. I’m not trying to brag or boast. I’m just completely being honest. It’s going to hurt other people more than it hurts us. That’s just a fact. If we have a $70 million economic impact, you obviously know if we don’t do the event, it’s going to hurt other people more than it hurts us.”

Bilal’s previous comments, which took aim at several individuals across the internet following the success of Invest Fest, prompted numerous videos and reaction clips that claimed he was being “anti-Black,” an accusation he says hurt.

“It hurts even more when you see Black people do it,” Bilal said. “[Invest Fest] don’t got to be said that it’s for Black people. You already know that. You already know what it is. I don’t ever have to say Black Your Leisure, Black Invest Fest. You know you have a safe space when you come to Invest Fest ’cause you Black. We don’t got to say it, it is what it is. We ain’t gotta overemphasize, ‘Yo, this is the Black …’ it is what it is!”

Bilal’s address comes one day after popular restaurateur and culture critic Mike Jordan took umbrage with the EYL co-founder’s previous comments, namely his disparaging of Atlanta as a whole and the oversaturation of “wealth conferences.”

“Just because you have a big lineup of famous people, relatively speaking, talking about financial literacy and generational wealth does not mean your event has more value,” Jordan said. “Atlanta is tired of your insults. The wildest part is, you chose to do your event in Atlanta and by your own admission, Atlanta is doing nothing to recruit you. That tells you everything you need to know about who needs who in this situation.

“You’re doing Invest Fest here because Black people are your target demographic. If it wasn’t, you’d be doing Invest Fest in Salt Lake City, Utah.”

Jordan wasn’t alone. Others voiced their issues with Bilal’s comments, including Dante Lee, who has attended numerous Invest Fest conferences and noted that, in his view, attendance was 99 percent Black. He understood Bilal’s frustration but wondered if his comments alienated future attendees.

“I love Invest Fest,” Lee said. “I made a lot of connections. I got a lot of clients from networking and establishing those clients but I’m not sure [Bilal] should be on the Internet saying this type of stuff.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mike Jordan (@mikejordanatl)

In his breakdown, Bilal revealed that Earn Your Leisure makes no money from the multi-day conference and that it is not a “grift” or a “money grab,” while also touting that Invest Fest did more for Atlanta economically than some people have done in their whole lives. Ultimately, he wants the focus and the narrative to return to what good Invest Fest and Earn Your Leisure are doing, citing the record number of viewers “Market Monday” had to watch what he’d say next about the drama.

“We’ve highlighted 520 Black entrepreneurs that changed people’s lives,” he said. “Over the last eight years, we’ve made countless people millionaires from watching our show. We’ve changed people’s dynamics. We’ve made people buy homes. We clean people’s credit. All we continue to do is help Black people. We’ve been giving information for free all year, and it took 7,800 to come here when we talking about bullsh-t.”