Lil Wayne Dropped by Mountain Dew Over Emmett Till Lyric

Rick Ross is not the only hip-hop superstar losing out on endorsement deals. Mountain Dew has canned Lil Wayne after his crude reference to civil rights martyr Emmett Till.

“Beat that pu**y up like Emmitt Till,” raps the New Orleans MC on the original remix to Future’s single “Karate Chop.”

The offensive lyric was later removed and Wayne sent a letter to Till’s family offering his empathy. But it wasn’t enough.

“I was not impressed,” said Airickca Gordon-Taylor, a cousin of Till’s. “I think that he’s kind of been pressured or he’s been admonished to make a statement to the family because of the ongoing negative publicity and attention and the pressure we’ve put onto his endorsement with Mountain Dew.”

Mountain Dew’s parent PepsiCo took action and dropped the 30-year-old rapper. In a statement issued Friday, the company said that Wayne’s “offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand.”

Mountain Dew also came under fire this week after a commercial directed by Odd Future’s Tyler, the Creator was deemed racist and pulled from the Internet.

Wayne has appeared in Mountain Dew commercials and the soft drink maker is also a sponsor of his upcoming “America’s Most Wanted Music Festival,” set to kick off this summer.

Last month, Rick Ross was dropped by Reebok after he rapped about raping a woman on Rocko’s song “U.O.E.N.O.”