“THE BRONX IS NOT A BRAND”
BRONX COMMUNITY MEMBERS AGAINST
THE EXPLOITATION OF BRONX CULTURE & CREATIVES
20 APRIL 2025
BOYCOTT BRONX NATIVE
BOYCOTT BRONX NATIVE
Since 2019, The Bronx Native, aka Amaurys Grullon, has been partnering with a known “Enemy of the Bronx,” Marco Shalma, who has been plundering the local creative scene while simultaneously profiteering off of the poverty that Bronx People struggle with daily.
Date: Saturday, April 26, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm
Place: Fordham Plaza, across the street from the Fordham Metro North Station, 417 E Fordham Rd, Bronx, NY 10458
What: At 1:00 pm, The Boycott Bronx Native Team welcomes news and media to join our press conference
Recommend: The Press may take photos and videos
In 2019, the Bronx-based group known as “Hydropunk” crafted the following statement regarding Amaurys Grullon and Marco Shalma.
It’s the Bronx is the Bronx’s own Fyre Festival. It is a slickly produced, image-based concept, with plenty of “yerrrr”s in the e-blasts to appeal to unsuspecting locals. But, behind glamourising our borough’s struggle and hustle, who really is Marco Shalma? Who is the man behind all the media companies and events, such as Bronx Night Market?
Mr. Shalma has used his media knowledge to integrate himself into the community with the manipulation of recognizable Bronx social influencers. He leveraged his industry contacts to fund his first endeavor, “BLOX,” and strategically aligned his brand with local established Bronx companies like “Bronxnet”, “Bronx Times Reporter,” and “News12 The Bronx” to gain legitimacy through their reputations.
To date, Mr. Shalma’s projects are built on the backs of exploited workers, while making empty promises to local creatives and freelancers. We feel Mr. Marco Shalma’s ties with developers of Union Crossing, such as Madison Realty Capital, JCAL development, BridgeLine BX, Bruckner Building, and office space provided to him by the infamous Keith Rubenstein are a consignment to the displacement of the Bronx community.
Furthermore, Marco Shalma has publicly stated that since moving to New York, he pretends to be “ a Caribbean man when it’s helpful”. His connection to social influencer, Amaurys Grullon, a Dominican man allegedly from the Bronx, makes the appropriation all the more sinister and makes not only him but the Mott Haven t-shirt shop owner complicit in the abuse of his so-called fellow “Bronx Natives”. Meanwhile, both entrepreneurs are promoting a message of community mindedness and authenticity to the very people they are exploiting. This is the definition of gaslighting.
As of 2025, Amaurys Grullon has taken advantage of community support as well as government aid, funded by taxpayers, accruing upwards of $80,000 in debt owed to the community. Amaurys Grullon has allegedly stolen from community members during the height of the COVID-19 shutdown, pocketing the profits received from the Bronx Native website yet refusing to mail out the paid-for products. Amaurys has gone on to publicly admit that he has taken the intellectual property of the underage youth he works with and has sold it for profit. According to our investigation, we have not learned of any of these profits being donated to the students or schools he works with. This is the definition of exploitation.
Our goal is to bring these unethical practices to light with fact-based evidence so that we can reclaim what rightfully belongs to the people.
The Bronx is not a Brand. The Bronx is not for sale.
PRESS CONTACT:
Boycott Bronx Native Team
Representative Cassie Ventura
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