Isaac Brekken/Getty Images, Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesThe fallout over Lil Wayne's lyrics continues.
After severing ties with the rapper for his degrading Emmett Till reference in Future's song "Karate Chop," officials at PepsiCo plan to meet with the Rev. Al Sharpton and members of the Till family sometime this week to sort out the lessons that can be drawn to prevent such controversies in the future.
"I have been in conversations over the last several days with leadership at PepsiCo and the family of Emmett Till we intend to meet next week," said the MSNBC host, civil rights leader and head of the National Action Network in a statement last Friday.
He continued, "This has been a 'teaching moment' for Lil Wayne, corporate America and the family of Emmett Till yet more than a condemnation of any one artist, it is an affirmation of Emmett Till and a call for more sensitivity about what we say and do in our culture."
Sharpton added that his organization is not advocating "artists losing contracts." Rather, he hopes the dialogue at PepsiCo's headquarters will help inform corporate America of its civic duties "so we can learn from these experiences and set a tone that will help everybody."
Last week, PepsiCo-owned Mountain Dew announced it was ending its partnership with Lil Wayne to promote its soda.
The news came two days after Weezy wrote an apology to the Till family for a vulgar lyric in the authorized remix in which he sang, "Beat that p--sy up like Emmett Till."
Till, of course, was the African-American teen from Chicago who, after flirting with a white woman, was beaten and shot to death in the Jim Crow South in 1955—an incident which helped spark the Civil Rights movement.
Till's relatives first complained about Wayne's reference in February, saying it dishonored Emmett's legacy. That prompted Epic Records to scrub all traces of the unauthorized remix from the Web.
Lil Wayne's not the only rapper in hot water over his lyrical content.
PepsiCo recently pulled a controversial commercial featuring Tyler, the Creator voicing Felicia the Goat after charges of racism. And fellow MC Rick Ross took heat for some offensive date-rape references, prompting Adidas-owned Reebok a few weeks back to end its relationship with the rapper.