Backlash from Mary J. Blige’s Burger King commercial

R&B Singer Mary J. Blige has been trying to rise back from the harsh critiques she received from her Burger King commercial.

Last April, Mary and Burger King had joined up to release a commercial for Burger King featuring the singer and the franchise’s Crispy Chicken Snack. The commercial has Mary’s melody, “Don’t Mind” being played. During the song, the singer is seen yelling out about the ingredients for the Snack while she is on top of a table.

The commercial immediately had angry reviews as soon as it was released. Many critics and viewers branded the commercial as racist and a perfect example as an African-American stereotype. With such reviews, it is no wonder Burger King quickly removed the commercial from YouTube hours after its release.

The singer apologized for the “unfinished ad” in reaction to the backlash. On Thursday’s Hot 97’s Angie Martinez show, she spoke out in apology to her fans. “I want to apologize to everyone that was offended or thought that I would do something so disrespectful to our culture. I would never do anything like that purposefully. I thought I was doing something right. So forgive me.” (Rollingstone)

Mary J. Blige first began her music career in 1989 through her contract with Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records. At the age of 18 she became the “MCA-distributed label’s youngest and first female artist.” The singer then became known for her 1992 multi-platinum album, “What’s the 411?” Through her music Mary has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. In addition, the female artist has won Grammys, 29 nominations for Grammys, eight multi-platinum albums, and has received four American Music awards.

After receiving such praise for her music, the R&B singer stated that the backlash from the commercial really “broke” her “heart.” Mary explained the critics were so verbal no one had given her the opportunity to defend herself.

“I understood the laughter and the jokes and the stuff that was happening — you’re supposed to do that when something like that happens — but the thing that hurt me is when people were starting to say vicious, negative things that didn’t have [anything] to do with that,” Mary stated in her interview with the show. “No one had mercy, and it’s cool, it was a learning experience. It hurt my feelings, it crushed me for two days, but after those two days, I got up and I kept going.” (MTV)

Photo courtesy of Eva Rinaldi via WikiCommons.