(The Root) — It's been a tough week for PepsiCo. Earlier this week, they had to pull an ad created by Odd Future member Tyler, The Creator, due to complaints that its content was racist and insensitive toward women. Today, according to the Associated Press, the company dropped Lil Wayne for a controversial lyric in which he compares sex with a woman to the lynching of Emmett Till.
Even though the lyrics were featured on an unofficial release of the song "Karate Chop" by rapper Future; even though the song was leaked in February and was immediately taken down, never to be released officially; even though the Till family already wrote an open letter to Lil Wayne expressing their dissatisfaction with the lyric; and even though Lil Wayne apologized for the lyric earlier this week, PepsiCo still thought they should disassociate themselves with Lil Wayne.
PepsiCo said in a statement late Friday that Wayne's "offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand." It declined to provide any further comment on any current promotions it might have in the market with Wayne.
But the story also says according to Lil Wayne's publicist, Sarah Cunningham, the split was due to creative differences. "That's all I can tell you at this time," she said to the Associated Press. This, too, seems like a highly plausible reason since the fire over the lyrics was put out long before even Lil Wayne's apology. But PepsiCo, still reeling from the Mountain Dew-Tyler, The Creator, debacle could be using Lil Wayne as a scapegoat to save face.
Read more at Yahoo.
Jozen Cummings is the author and creator of the popular relationship blog Until I Get Married, which is currently in development for a television series with Warner Bros. He also hosts a weekly podcast with WNYC about Empire called Empire Afterparty, is a contributor at VerySmartBrothas.com and works at Twitter as an editorial curator. Follow him on Twitter.