In the days that people on Twitter and the blogosphere were up in arms over the stereotypical Burger King commercial starring Mary J. Blige singing about crispy chicken snack wraps, the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul has broken her silence about her involvement in the controversial spot promoting the fast food chain’s new crispy chicken wraps.
Many thought it was an April Fools joke when it premiered on Burger King's YouTube page this past Sunday, but when everyone realized it was the official commercial, many in the Black community flipped their wigs because if there's anything black folks don't want exploited on TV is their love for fried chicken, watermelon and Kool-Aid.
Mary says the version that surfaced online (but was later pulled) was not the version she approved of.
“I agreed to be a part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence,” stated the 41-year-old singer. “Unfortunately, that’s not what was happening in that clip.”
“I understand my fans being upset by what they saw,” she continued. “But, if you’re a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw to go out.”
Burger King recently admitted that the commercial was released “before all of the licensing and final approvals were obtained” and have since apologized. “We would like to apologize to Mary J. and all of her fans for airing an ad that was not final.”
A final approved version of the commercial will be released soon. Other celebrities who have also contributed to Burger King commercials that will be coming soon to a TV and internet screen near you: David Beckham, Salma Hayek, and Jay Leno. I'm thinking the commercial was meant to be funny, like something you see on Funny or Die, but when you associate black people with fried chicken, folk tend to get sensitive. I wish they would react the same way whenever a new Tyler Perry movie comes out.
No comments:
Post a Comment