(AllHipHop News) Yesterday (May 1), Mountain Dew and Tyler The Creator pulled a recent ad featuring the Odd Future rapper from the internet. The commercial was criticized, most notably by Dr. Boyce Watkins, as being racist and misogynistic.
The clip centered around Tyler’s character, “Felicia The Goat,” appearing in a police line-up with his fellow OFWGKTA members. The young black men were being reviewed by a severely injured white women as a police detective pushes her to identify her attacker.
[ALSO READ: Tyler The Creator and Mountain Dew Facing Criticism For New Ad Being Called Racist]
PepsiCo, Mountain Dew’s parent company, issued an apology stating that they could see how the commercial could be seen as offensive. Mountain Dew asked Tyler to take the ad off the Odd Future YouTube channel, and the company removed it from their own website.
Hey guys – made a big mistake we’ve removed the offensive video from all our channels. #fail
— Mountain Dew® (@mtn_dew) May 1, 2013
Like the previous two Felicia Mountain Dew commercials, the “line-up” ad was developed and directed by Tyler. His co-manager, Christian Clancy, decided to address the issue and defend his client on his Tumblr page. His post stated in part:
Context may or not help those who are offended and I wholly respect that but for those who are interested I can offer the following and leave the rest to Tyler. 1. This spot was part of an overall admittedly absurd storyline about a crazy goat who becomes obsessed with Mountain Dew 2. The lady in front of the lineup is the waitress from the first spot. 3. The lineup consists of Tylers friends and odd future members who were available that day. (LBoy, Leftbrain, Garret from Trash Talk and Errol) 4. He absolutely never intended to spark a controversy about race. it was simply an again admittedly absurd story that was never meant to be taken seriously. Again we apologize if this was taken out of context and would never trivialize racism, especially now in America where voting and civil rights are being challenged at the highest level. I can however stand firmly by someone I have believed in since we met only because I know him and i know all of this was never his intent.
Tyler has also mentioned the commercial and the controversy on Twitter. Sending out the following tweets:
IDIOTS THE LADY IN THE NEW MOUNTAIN DEW COMMERCIAL IS THE WAITRESS THAT GOT ATTACK RETARD
— Tyler, The Creator (@fucktyler) April 25, 2013
I Would Love To Have A Convo With @drboycewatkins1
— Tyler, The Creator (@fucktyler) May 1, 2013
