For a while now, Lil Wayne has been the face of Pepsi Co’s Mountain Dew drink, but yesterday he got the “chop” over an inappropriate reference to a US civil rights martyr.
Pepsi Co has said it is cutting ties with Lil Wayne after he made an “offensive” reference to civil rights martyr Emmett Till in a song.
For a while now” Lil Wayne” has been embroiled in a controversy over a lyric in a remix of his song Karate Chop, where he likens the beating to death of 14-year-old African-American Emmett Till to a sexual act.
In a letter to Till’s family this week, Wayne called the reference “inappropriate” but stopped short of an apology.
Till, from Chicago, was beaten and murdered in 1955 for allegedly “whistling” at a white woman while he was visiting family in Mississippi.
Due to racial discrimination, an all-white jury acquitted two white men of Till’s murder, this sparked a country wide outrage.
The trial is credited with mobilising the civil rights movement and drawing attention to racial injustice and violence in America’s South.
In a statement, the company said the “offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand.
A publicist for Wayne, Sarah Cunningham, said that the split was due to “creative differences” and that it was an amicable parting.
This week, Pepsi Co pulled a series of online ads for Mountain Dew by rapper “Tyler, The Creator”, which was criticised for embracing racial stereotypes and trivialising violence toward women.
Earlier this month, rapper Rick Ross also lost his deal with Reebok after he rapped about raping a woman who had been drugged.
I guess it shows maturity when brand hold their ambassador to a code of high morality, for too long we have had artist and rappers do whatever they like all in the name of showbiz and improving their rating, I guess Pepsi’s stand show that not all publicity is good publicity.