MUMBAI: Leading beverage company Pepsico has terminated its partnership with popular rapper Lil Wayne over his crude lyrical reference to civil rights martyr Emmett Till in a song.
One of the most popular stars in pop music, Lil Wayne had associated with Pepsico to promote Mountain Dew soda.
The Mountain Dew ad by Tyler, the Creator, was pulled off by the company immediately after learning people found it offensive.
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The ad portrayed a battered white woman being urged to identify her attacker from a lineup of black men and a talking goat that has appeared in other Mountain Dew ads. Tyler, the Creator has noted that the men in the lineup were played by his friends and members of Odd Future, a Los Angeles-based rap collective.
In a statement, the company said, “Wayne’s offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand.”
They declined to further comment on any current promotions it might have in the market with Wayne.
On the other hand, the singer’s publicist Sarah Cunningham stated that the split was due to ‘creative differences’ and it was an amicable parting.
“That’s about all I can tell you at this time,” she said.
The controversy reportedly erupted after Wayne made the reference to Till in Future’s song ‘Karate Chop’ earlier this year. He refers to beating someone during a sexual act and says he wants to do as much damage as was done to Till.
The black teen from Chicago was in Mississippi visiting his family in 1955 when he was killed, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. He was beaten, had his eyes gouged out and was shot in the head before his assailants tied a cotton gin fan to his body with barbed wire and tossed it into a river.
Two white men, including the woman’s husband, were acquitted by an all-white jury.
Till’s body was recovered and returned to Chicago where his mother, Mamie Till, insisted on having an open casket at his funeral. The pictures of his battered body helped push civil rights into the cultural conversation.
Wayne had sent the Till family a letter offering empathy and saying that he would not refer Till or the family in his music, particularly in an inappropriate manner.
The Till family, which had this week called for a meeting with Wayne and PepsiCo representatives, was made aware of the decision but did not immediately have a statement.
Earlier this week, PepsiCo also pulled up an online ad for the neon-colored soda that was criticized for portraying racial stereotypes and making light of violence towards women. The ad was developed by rapper Tyler, the Creator.
