Thursday (April 4), shortly after Ross tweeted a 69-character apology, a group of impassioned women and men gathered at Reebok's flagship store in New York City to protest the sneaker company's association with the rapper. Members of Ultra Violet, the event's organizer, were holding boxes labeled with the number "72,000″

"These are 72,000 petitions signed by our members all over the country," Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of Ultra Violet, told Radio.com. "They are also comments from people about why they feel Reebok needs to drop Rick Ross over his recent lyrics about drugging and raping a girl."