Tyler, The Creator Defends Banned Mountain Dew Ad

Tyler, the Creator continues to defend the Mountain Dew commercial that he directed, despite the fact that it was banned after critics complained that it portrayed racist stereotypes.

According to Syracuse University professor Dr. Boyce Watkins, an outspoken critic of the online ad, the 60 second ad is "arguably the most racist commercial in history."

The Mountain Dew ad features a talking goat that the 22-year-old rapper created named "Felicia the Goat." In the ad, Felicia brutally assaults an older white lady who then tries to identity her attacker in a police lineup. Along with Felicia, all of the other suspects in the lineup are young, Black males dressed in urban wear, while the battered woman and white cops stand on the opposite side of the glass.

Although the Black men in the lineup are actually Tyler's real life friends, and members of the music groups Odd Future and Trash Talk, Dr. Watkins and viewers took offense to the ad noting that it promotes the stereotype that Black men are violent thugs and criminals.

"Black Mountain Dew has set a new low for corporate racism. Their decision to lean on well-known racial stereotypes is beyond disgusting," writes Dr. Watkins of corporate executives at Mountain Dew on his blog.

"This doesn't even include the fact that the company has put black men on par with animals. The holocaust of mass incarceration and the glorification of violent prison culture has taken a tremendous toll on the black community," he argued.

As a result, Pepsi, Mountain Dew's parent company, decided to pull the ad taking full responsibility of the unintended offense. However, Tyler has not backed down from his stance. In an interview with Billboard, he said "There's no type of hate being portrayed in that work of art at all-which I'm confused by."

He added, "The stereotypes are what I'm confused on, no one was even thinking about that. I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, let's use all black [people]' or whatever. I wanted to use my friends. You know why? 'Cause I don't like using other actors."

He continued the conversation on Twitter writing, "This Man Keeps Bringing Up Black People. STOP! Everything Does Not Have To Do With The Color Of Skin. How Do You Think Like That? Some People Keep Feeding Into This Racism Cycle That They Claim They Are Trying To Rid From The World... Yeah Right Dr."

Dr. Watkins has released a 22-minute video sharing his thoughts in response to Tyler's article in Billboard. "I refuse to hate or fight this dude. I would gladly support him in his deal with Mountain Dew as long as there is adequate oversight," he said. "When u put images in media, u have to think about the images u send out. Black kids don't need to be further brainwashed into criminality."

Tyler has directed at least one more commercial for Mountain Dew, but it is unclear if it will be released or not.