Mary J. Blige's Burger King Commercial Pulled Due to Music Licensing Issues

8:12 AM PDT 4/4/2012 by Jordan Zakarin

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The spot featuring the Hip Hop Soul legend has garnered plenty of criticism, but that's not why the fast food chain has removed the spots from the air.

Mary J. Blige's apparent love for chicken sandwiches will go unsung -- for at least a little while.

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The unconventional advertisement in which she is featured, belting out her great affection for Burger King's poultry and all its toppings, has been pulled, the Associated Press reports. The issue, the chain told the AP, is that the spot used music for which they may not have properly obtained the rights. A spokesperson for the company said that they hoped to re-launch the ad soon.

Many have decried the advertisement, however, not for its potentially illegal music choices but for its entire premise. Having a prominent black woman singing in an ad for fast food fried chicken, critics say, is inappropriate and insulting.

In a blog post that went viral on Tuesday, Renay Alize, writing on the website Madame Noire, penned an open letter to Blige expressing her disappointment in the decision to participate.

"Having a black woman sing about chicken was no mistake," Alize wrote. "They’re trying to reach the 'urban' (aka black) demographic and they used you. Because God knows black folk won’t buy anything unless there’s a song, and preferably a dance, attached to it... I know you know that was sarcasm, Mary."