Tyler The Creator Says Mountain Dew Execs Loved His Racist, Sexist Goat Ad When He First Pitched It
On Monday, before the controversial third video made headlines, Rap Radar posted a video in which Tyler, The Creator told editor Elliott Wilson how Mountain Dew approached him, heard his crazy pitch, and "they actually liked it."
In the first ad, Felicia the Goat (voiced by Tyler and apparently inspired by his mother) beats up a waitress after she gives him Mountain Dew, part two shows him escaping police after getting pulled over for a DewUI, and part three shows the goat taunting the waitress in a lineup — shouting "Snitches get stitches, foo," and "Keep ya mouth shut, I'm going to get out of here and Dew you up!" The waitress runs out crying and screaming.
During his interview with Wilson, Tyler, The Creator described when his manager Christian Clancy first told him that Mountain Dew thought he was creative and wanted to work with him.
YouTubeFelicia, The Mountain Dew Goat before beating up a waitress."I'm gonna tell them some stupid idea I come up with five minutes before the meeting and they're gonna think it's f***in' retarded, and I didn't get my hopes up," Tyler said. "And then I took a meeting with them and it was like, ok, uh, they were actually cool and young, a little older than me, and they were like, 'Tell us your commercial idea.'"
So Tyler described the ad as the following: "Alright, it's a f***ing goat, right? It's a goat and he's going to drink the f***ing Mountain Dew, and he's gonna yell at the lady, and the cops are going to pull him over, and then he's going to be in jail and then he gonna do PCP."
Positive he was going to get turned down, Tyler noted his shock when the Mountain Dew team ate the concept up.
"I'm so used to people saying, 'That's f***ing retarded, and I'm looking at Clancy like, 'Yo are they serious' and they actually liked it."
Soon he was driving through the Valley in Los Angeles with Mountain Dew looking for the perfect goat — and the rest is history.
"Finally someone looked past the rape or the devil worshiping or the immaturity which is evident in the ad," Tyler said, "and they gave me a chance and let me be fucking seven years old with their product."
Tyler, The Creator was describing previous controversies over his lyrics. In 2011 he told Spin that "talking about rape and cutting bodies up, it just doesn't interest me anymore." His lyrics have previously described how he would "Rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome."
Tyler's manager posted a blog on his Tumblr apologizing to those offended but explaining the ad and context of the rapper's humor.
"Tyler he is known for pushing boundaries and challenging stereotypes thru humor," Clancy wrote. "This is someone who grew up on David Chappelle. This situation is layered with context and is a discussion that Tyler would love to address in the right forum as he does have a point of view."
Here's the controversial ad:
And here's the video where he describes pitching the series to Mountain Dew: