Drop It Like It's Hot: Lost Endorsement Deals
Lil Wayne isn't the first star to get dropped by a brand.
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Drop It Like It's Hot: Lost Endorsement Deals - It's been a rough week for your favorite rappers' favorite (read; lucrative) Mountain Dew endorsement deals. Weeks after the family of Emmett Till criticized Lil Wayne for vulgar lyrics about the slain civil rights martyr on the remix to Future's "Karate Chop," Mountain Dew parent company Pepsico announced today (May 3) that it had dropped the Cash Money star as a spokesperson. Meanwhile, Mountain Dew also pulled an ad directed by Odd Future rapper Tyler, the Creator after commentator Boyce Watkins and others called it racist. Both musicians have frequently had rocky rides as company spokespeople. And when brands and bands divorce, it's never pretty. Read on to see other music stars who've lost endorsement deals. —Alex Gale (Photos from left: Jason Merritt/Getty Images, Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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Rick Ross - Reebok dropped Rick Ross like a hot potato last month following a controversy over lyrics on his guest verse to Rocko's "U.O.E.N.O.," which appeared condone date rape. (Photo: Moses Robinson/Getty Images)
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Ludacris - In 2002, Fox News rabble-rouser Bill O'Reilly disturbed Ludacris' piece of the pie when he criticized his huge endorsement deal with Pepsi. After months of protests over their new spokesman's supposedly "violent" and "sexist" lyrics, Pepsi bowed to the pressure and deaded Luda. (Photo: Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
Photo By Photo: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
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T.I. - T.I. lost his endorsement deal with General Motors after his 2007 arrest — and eventual conviction — for weapons charges. (Photo: Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)
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T.I. (Again) - T.I.'s pocketbook took another hit in 2010, when both Rémy Martin Cognac and Axe Body Spray nixed endorsement deals with him in the wake of a probation violation that sent him back to prison for the second time in two years. (Photo: Prince Williams/FilmMagic)
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