Justin Bieber has been slammed after'racist' Spotify ad
- Publish date
- Friday, 23 Jun 2017, 9:46AM
An advertisement that called Justin Bieber a "Latin king" has been pulled from Spotify over complaints that it's racist.
The ad featured a photo of the pop star with the words "Justin. Now Latin King" and referenced his recent No. 1 hit Despacito.
But viewers were quick to call Spotify out on the ad, calling it racist.
dear @Spotify , take this down. this is disrespectful. I'm sure we all agree.
— paletero papi (@pablocurates) 14 June 2017
-sincerely,
ALL LATINXS. pic.twitter.com/GZ56lzHncn
Bieber get back in your lane, it ain't the "despacito" one. No support from this Latin American at his desperate attempt at appropiation.
— Animo Veronica (@animoveronica) 7 June 2017
I do not spend ten dollars a month for @Spotify to call Justin Bieber a Latin king and ignore actual Latinx artists
— Xan (@SaltHabitat) 22 June 2017
Spotify quickly pulled the ad after complaints, admitting it could be seen as "culturally insensitive".
"We made a creative decision to feature Justin Bieber in our ad because we wanted to celebrate 'Despacito' as key cultural moment when music genres crossover," a spokesperson told the New York Daily News.
"We realised that this could be seen as culturally insensitive so we have pulled those ads."
The incident comes after Bieber was filmed performing Despicato while struggling to sing the song's Spanish words.
"I don't know the words, so I say poquito/ I don't know the words, so I say Dorito," he was reported as singing.
Source: NZ Herald.
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