The fast food chain is stating that music license reason are behind the pulled ad and not the heavy criticism.
Burger King’s commercial with Mary J. Blige was pulled off the air, according to CBS News.
While the company is insisting that the reason behind the withdrawal is because of music licensing issues, the criticism over the ad has been extremely public.
Critics are upset with Blige singing about Burger King’s crispy chicken snack wrap, believing that she is playing into a stereotype about eating chicken.
According to MTV, the ad shows Blige standing on a table singing, “Crispy chicken, fresh lettuce, three cheeses, ranch dressing, wrapped in a tasty flour tortilla,” to the tune of her song “Don’t Mind.”
Madame Noire, a black-woman centered website, described the ad as “buffoonery.”
Steve Stoute, a hip hop branding expert who has worked with Blige on over endorsement deals, tweeted Tuesday about the situation.
“The issue is the burger king commercial is thT these agencies visit culture and then do work that is so in authentic it’s embarrassing.”
The fast food chain removed the ad from not only the air, but their Youtube account.
A spokesperson for the company says that they hope to have the Blige commercial back on the air soon, but would not speak on if the commercials would be the same.
The spokesperson also mentioned that Burger King is airing other ads with celebrities like Salma Hayek and Jay Leno, advertising the same product.
Burger King was in the news earlier this week when the company announced a brand-new menu.
