Mary J. Blige Burger King Commercial 'Still Not A Laughing Matter'

• Blige was deeply hurt by the backlash and lost relationships over the ad's perceived stereotyping.
• She emphasizes the ad was not her final vision and she would never intentionally disrespect her culture.
• Blige learned the industry can be fickle, so she now focuses on working with those who celebrate her.

“What’s in the new chicken wraps?!” Not a lighthearted laugh from the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.

Even after more than a decade, Mary J. Blige still isn’t in a place where she can laugh off her Burger King commercial.

In April of 2012, Mary J. Blige partnered with Burger King to promote its Chicken Snack Wraps.

In the 30-second ad, the singer passionately peddled BK’s newest item, singing lyrics that read: “Crispy chicken, fresh lettuce, three cheeses, ranch dressing, wrapped up in a tasty, flour tortilla.”

At the time, MJB was the latest in a line of multiple celebrities to collaborate with the fast food chain, who also teamed up with Salma Hayek, David Beckham, Sofia Vergara, Steven Tyler, and Jay Leno, per Billboard. But, unlike the other celebrity partnerships, Blige’s BK commercial caught backlash, being called out by many for being “stereotypical.”

Within 24 hours of releasing the highly criticized commercial, Burger King pulled Mary J. Blige’s ad. That same day, however, Billboard reported that the restaurant blamed that on music licensing issues, saying it hoped to have the “ads back on the air soon.”

The following day, April 4, 2012, Burger King apologized to Mary J. Blige for releasing “an unfitted version” of the ad. According to reports from TMZ at the time, Blige said she never signed off on the version of the commercial that everyone saw online.

“I agreed to be a part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that’s not what was happening in that clip,” MJB said at the time. “I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. But, if you’re a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw go out.”

Later that year, Blige addressed the commercial during an interview with Hot 97’s Angie Martinez, per Hollywood Unlocked, calling it a mistake.

“I wanted to crawl under the bed. It was a mistake, but I did it because I thought it was something that wouldn’t come out like that. It was sold to us that I would be shot in an iconic way…It hurt my feelings. It crushed me for like two days,” MJB said, per Billboard. “I want to apologize to everyone who was offended who thought I would do something that was so disrespectful to our culture. I would never do anything like that. I thought I was doing something right.”

Now, 14 years after the original commercial aired, Mary J. Blige addressed the controversy once again during her episode of Scott Evans‘ House Guest series. When Evans asked the singer if she’s finally able to laugh at all of the drama surrounding the commercial, Blige responded passionately, insisting she would “never” laugh at the situation.

“Um, no. I’m not because I would never laugh at that because my true honest to true fans did not think that sh*t was funny,” Mary began. “The whole way that sh*t went down was wrong. The whole way they shot it was wrong. It was set up to make exactly what happened in the press happen like that.”

“And so it’s still not a laughing matter to me, you know because, I was deeply, deeply affected,” she continued. “Now, I learned a lot from it. But it’s not something I’m like [fake laughs]. No, it’s not f**king funny. But laugh, you motherf**kers, if you want. Still, I don’t care. But the bottom line is my fans were confused. The real true fans, not the people that [dip in and dip out].”

Blige went on to talk about all of the folks who have continued to crack jokes about the situation, saying that while everything seems to be a joke on the internet, her real life was affected. She even said that she lost relationships with people close to her because of the surrounding backlash.

“That doesn’t feel good, still. But I learned from it, though. It doesn’t feel good because I was getting clobbered for no f**king reason. But, it did show me something,” Mary explained. “One minute people are with you and one minute they are not. It showed me just how fickle the game is, and it showed me exactly who my friends were. A lot of my so-called friends are not around anymore. I was like a disease to people. And nobody wanted to be affiliated.”

“So, the people that—this is where I learned, I go where I’m celebrated at. Because they would treat me like I was a disease or something. So, I said, ‘You know, I know how to do this. Thank you, Lord, for the lesson,'” she concluded. “Thank you for getting me through it. Now I know how people get down.”

MBJ emphasized once again: “Everything is not funny. But people laugh. Everything is, you know everything is… [fake laughs]. Nah, sh*t is not funny.”

Mary J. Blige Says 2012 Burger King Commercial Is ‘Still Not A Laughing Matter,’ Admits She Lost ‘So-Called Friends’ Over The Backlash: ‘I Was Like A Disease To People’ was originally published on bossip.com