Tyler, the Creator defended his Mountain Dew commercial after PepsiCo took it down when it received complaints of racism and cruel violence against women.
In the commercial, a severely-beaten woman is asked to identify her attacker in a police lineup including Felicia the Goat and several African Americans from Tyler’s Adult Swim sketch show Loiter Squad.
Tyler defended his ad in an interview with Billboard. He denied that the commercial was racist, saying “There's no type of hate being portrayed in that work of art at all," reports Rolling Stone.
In an interview with Syracuse University professor and social commentator Boyce Watkins, Tyler claimed that the debate won’t affect his work, in fact, that “it’s not gonna change my art in any way,” according to Spin. Watkins called the ad “arguably the most racist commercial in history.”
Of the complaints, Tyler said, "I just actually can't believe that somebody sat there and pointed out that it was all black people, instead of being confused that it was a freaking goat talking. That's mind-blowing."
According to Rolling Stone, the only reason the men in the police lineup were all black was because he wanted to use his friends in the commercial. Tyler said the whole issue was blown way out of proportion.
Tyler’s manager Christian Clancy also released a statement defending the ad.
See the full interview with Boyce Watkins below: