Lil Wayne is the latest rapper to lose a major endorsement over controversial lyrics. On May 3, PepsiCo announced that they would be dropping Lil Wayne as an endorser for their Mountain Dew brand. In 2012, Lil Wayne was introduced as the head of the multi-million dollar DEWeezy campaign, which was a bit odd considering that Lil Wayne’s lyrics have always been edgy.
But Lil Wanye apparently took things too far with his lyrics on Future’s “Karate Chop.” In the song, Lil Wayne rapped, “Beat the p—y up like it’s Emmett Till.”
In 1955, Till was murdered and brutally beaten by savage white men in Mississippi after they accused him of whistling at a white woman. He eventually became a martyr and symbol of the racist attitudes that plagues the South.
L.A. Reid of Epic Records issued an apology and pulled the song from airwaves; however, Lil Wayne never apologized for the lyric and Till’s family is highly upset. Fueled by Reebok’s decision to drop Rick Ross over his “rape lyrics” on the song “U.O.E.N.O.,” Till’s family went after PepsiCo. Lil Wayne released a statement on the matter last week, but Till’s family would not accept it because there was no direct apology.
Share your thoughts. Did PepsiCo do the right thing by dropping Lil Wayne as an endorser, or was it a situation that was blown out of proportion?
