Drake out of touch with the 99 per cent

Re Envisioning Drake’s dream home, Aug. 2 Your lead story on the front page was about low-paid workers who are victims of wage theft. This follows a number of recent feature stories about the working poor and what a struggle it is for so many people just to keep their heads above water in today’s shifting economy.

But then you decide to rub their noses in the unfathomable lifestyles of the super rich — the 1 per cent!

You feature a two-page spread, in the Entertainment and Life section, with huge colour photos, showing Drake’s “imagined” dream home on the Bridle Path. This ostentatious display of wealth, which includes a “champagne room” and a “luxurious basketball court,” is, quite frankly, obscene.

Granted, it is only his fantasy home, but the fact that he can dream at this level, knowing he can afford to make it real, is in itself an indictment of how far removed he is from the world of the other 99 per cent.

These are people who, when they dream of a home, just hope that they can afford to buy one and keep up the mortgage payments.

Many can’t. That’s why they are so angry. That’s why Donald Trump has so many supporters. He would love this article. It’s what fuels the fire in the bellies of his base.

How could the Star be so insensitive and blind? Leon Marr, Toronto

Instead of meeting with a Toronto official — or, vice versa — Toronto officials and Drake would have promoted a better photo-op and publicity had they been giving all that attention to what they would do for the community, homeless and other unfortunates, instead of narcissistic, self-absorbed indulgent plans for a mansion that desecrates trees and benefits only the ultra-rich and their contractors, designers, outfitters, dressers, servants and staff instead of the potentially many in need.

Why the Star would even report on this escapes me.

What a disgrace. Shelby Shepherd, Toronto