Mary J. Blige Speaks On Controversial 2012 Burger King Commercial: 'It's Not F‑‑‑ing Funny'

Mary J. Blige has opened up about the backlash she endured for appearing in a 2012 Burger King commercial that critics at the time said perpetuated racist stereotypes. In a new interview with media personality Scott Evans (below), the 55-year-old singer looked back on the fallout from the ad, which saw her sing about "crispy chicken, fresh lettuce, three cheeses, ranch dressing wrapped up in a tasty flour tortilla" over the beat of her 2011 song "Don't Mind." "Are you in a place where you can yet laugh about that Burger King commercial?" Evans asked Blige in the interview, as the clip has spawned memes in the years since its rollout was scaled back amid the backlash. No. I'm not. I would never laugh at that, because my true, honest fans did not think that s‑‑‑ was funny. The whole way that s‑‑‑ went down was wrong," Blige replied. "The way they shot it was wrong. It was set up to make exactly what happened in the press happen like that." She continued, "It's still not a laughing matter to me, because I was deeply, deeply affected. Now, I learned a lot from it." Blige reiterated that "it's not f‑‑‑ing funny," but still urged "motherf‑‑‑ers" to laugh at it if they want. "The bottom line is, my fans were confused. The real, true fans," she stressed. "I didn't really know what was going on. I had bad representation, bad management, bad everything. Everybody dropped the ball, and I'm holding everything. That was a learning curve, but still not funny." (Blige did not clarify who represented her at the time. Entertainment Weekly has reached out to her team for clarification.) She compared the criticism she received at the time to "getting clobbered for no f‑‑‑ing reason," and that frayed relationships over the commercial showed her "just how fickle the game is" in the entertainment industry. "A lot of my so-called friends are not around anymore. I was like a disease to people. Nobody wanted to be affiliated," she said. "This is where I learned I go where I'm celebrated at. They were treating me like I was a disease or something." She finished her thought by telling Evans that she realized how "f‑‑‑ed up and fickle people are" as she processed the moment. The ad was met with criticism shortly after a preview was uploaded to (and later deleted from) the Burger King YouTube account in 2012, with Blige releasing a subsequent statement

SOURCE