Mary J. Blige Speaks Out on Burger King Ad Backlash

Many have voiced their opinion of the recent controversial Burger King ad, which featured Mary J. Blige singing the praises of their chicken snack wrap. But until now, the singer at the center of it all had kept mum.

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The commercial, which never made it to air, faced harsh criticism on the web from many people deeming the content racist. Blige herself also came under fire for participating in the ad, in which she croons the ingredients of the snack to the tune of her song “Don’t Mind.”

"I would never just bust out singing about chicken and chicken wings," Blige told Hot 97's Angie Martinez. "It hurt my feelings and crushed me for two days."

Commentors on the website Madame Noire referred to Blige’s act as “buffoonery” and said that the nine-time Grammy winner was encouraging negative stereotypes about African Americans and fried chicken.

"I understood the laughter and the jokes and the stuff that was happening - you're supposed to do that when something like that happens - but the thing that hurt me is when people were starting to say vicious, negative things that didn't have (anything) to do with that," Blige said. "It exposed everyone and everything in my life and showed me who my friends are."

At the time, Burger King issued an apology claiming that the ad was not final. Blige, while refraining from speaking publicly, said she wanted to “crawl under the bed.” On Thursday, she issued an apology of her own.

"I want to apologize to everyone that was offended or thought I would do something so disrespectful to our culture," she said. "I would never do anything like that purposely."