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Ludacris Pepsi Boycott Fizzles
Rappers can put down the pickets and pick up a Pepsi--everything's now copacetic between the hip-hop nation and Pepsi Generation.
Just days after rap mogul and activist Russell Simmons threatened a boycott of the beverage maker over their dissing of Ludacris, Pepsi has extended a multimillion-dollar olive branch.
Pepsi has agreed to donate millions of dollars over the next several years through Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and the Ludacris Foundation that will benefit "grass-roots, nonprofit organizations serving the needs of disadvantaged youth throughout the United States," according to a joint statement.
"We've come to an agreement where the common ground is young people. We're working together on a multi-year, multi-city effort that will encourage kids to express their creativity in the visual and performing arts," Pepsi said in the statement. "We will focus particularly on young people who would not otherwise have the opportunity to get involved in art and music."
Simmons decided he was going to take the fizz out of Pepsi after the pop purveyors pulled an ad featuring Ludacris (who happens to be on Simmons' Def Jam label).
Last August, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly criticized the company on air for signing on a rapper who, "espouses violence, degrading sex, and substance abuse." (The Atlanta-based rapper's smash 2001 album Word of Mouf contains such cuss-laced ditties as "Move Bitch.") O'Reilly then told viewers he was switching to Coke.
The 30-second spot in question, which showed Ludacris (real name: Chris Bridges) rapping at a party held in barn, didn't actually contain any profane or sexually explicit lyrics, but the heat proved too much for Pepsi. It dropped the R-rated rapper from its commercial rotation the next day, claiming the company had received consumer complaints about Ludacris' obscene lyrics.
Simmons & Co. seemed okay with that, possibly because Ludacris reportedly didn't lose any money when the ad was yanked. But when Pepsi turned around and signed the F-bomb-dropping Osbournes to pitch Pepsi Twist (the memorable commercial, costarring the Osmonds and Florence Henderson, debuted during the Super Bowl), the proverbial [bleep] hit the fan.
Calling the beverage behemoth hypocritical and biased, Simmons called for a boycott of Pepsi products to begin today unless the company reinstated the ad, publicly apologized to Ludacris and made a $5 million to his charitable foundation.
The agreement, hammered out Monday night and announced late Tuesday, was short on specifics, though. No word on what groups will get the funds or when the money will start flowing.
The biggest unanswered question, however, is whether the Ludacris commercial would go back into TV rotation. Neither Simmons' crew nor the cola camp would comment.
Ad or no, we're guessing Ludacris isn't losing sleep over the whole imbroglio. Word of Mouf has gone triple platinum and is up for two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album, on February 23.
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