Article Lead Image

Screengrab via JustinBieberVEVO/YouTube

Spotify removes tone-deaf ad calling Justin Bieber a ‘Latin king’

Spotify said it was trying to 'celebrate' the song.

 

Audra Schroeder

Streaming

Posted on Jun 23, 2017   Updated on May 23, 2021, 2:03 am CDT

Justin Bieber‘s been having a tough time with chart-topper “Despacito.”

He’s had fans launch shoes at him for not performing the remix—a Spanish-language collaboration with Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi—and in May got called out for mocking the lyrics. Now Spotify has removed a tone-deaf ad calling Bieber, a Canadian, a “Latin king.”

The ad, which ran on Instagram, appeared last week and was apparently circulated to “celebrate” the No. 1 song, though neither Fonsi nor Daddy Yankee appear in the ad. A Spotify rep said in a statement that the company made the “creative decision” to highlight the “key cultural moment when music genres cross over. We realized that this could be seen as culturally insensitive so we have pulled those ads.”

Of course the Latinx community realized way before Spotify did.

https://twitter.com/J_S_Robles/status/877644611161735169

H/T Fader 

Share this article
*First Published: Jun 23, 2017, 10:46 am CDT