MLK's Daughter Bernice King Blasts Pepsi In Mic-Drop Tweet

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Bernice King, the daughter of legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., is far from pleased with Pepsi’s latest ad.

The nearly three-minute video, which was released on Tuesday, features reality star Kendall Jenner ― who hasn’t said much, if anything, about activism to date ― parading through a protest and (somehow) bringing about a sense of peace by handing a police officer a can of Pepsi.

The backlash to the ad was swift. Social media users called it out for being egregiously tone-deaf for, you know, implying that soda alone can cure the world of racism, inequality and the rest of its ills. King was among them. On Wednesday, she wrote a tweet that referenced her late father, who was assassinated 49 years to the day Pepsi’s video dropped, and superbly highlighted the ad’s hypocrisy:

The company released a statement on Wednesday in response to the backlash and announced that they are officially pulling the ad.

“Pepsi was trying to project a global a message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”

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