Justin Bieber lent his star power to a remix of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's smash hit "Despacito" earlier this year, but an attempt by Spotify to cash in on the song's success has gone awry.
The mostly Spanish-language song has been sitting atop Billboard charts for six weeks now, which apparently led the streaming service to think it was okay to deem the Biebs a "Latin King" in a recent Instagram ad campaign.
The sponsored post in question featured the copy: "Justin. Now Latin King."
Given Bieber's non-Latin roots and disinterest in learning the Spanish words to the hit song he guests on, the online backlash was quick and angry.
Now, Spotify has pulled the offending ad.
"We made a creative decision to feature Justin Bieber in our ad because we wanted to celebrate 'Despacito' as key cultural moment when music genres crossover," a spokesperson told the New York Daily News. "We realized that this could be seen as culturally insensitive so we have pulled those ads."
If you can stomach it, relive Bieber's cringe-inducing culturally insensitive performance of "Despacito" below, followed by the studio rendition of the track.
The mostly Spanish-language song has been sitting atop Billboard charts for six weeks now, which apparently led the streaming service to think it was okay to deem the Biebs a "Latin King" in a recent Instagram ad campaign.
The sponsored post in question featured the copy: "Justin. Now Latin King."
Given Bieber's non-Latin roots and disinterest in learning the Spanish words to the hit song he guests on, the online backlash was quick and angry.
dear @Spotify , take this down. this is disrespectful. I'm sure we all agree.
— paletero papi (@pablocurates) June 14, 2017
-sincerely,
ALL LATINXS. pic.twitter.com/GZ56lzHncn
I started a petition on @ConMijente's platform! https://t.co/GVan5WTkDY
— Jeronimo Saldaña (@JeronimoSaldana) June 20, 2017
@Spotify can you explain to me how in the world is @justinbieber "The Latin King" when he isn't even Latin in the first place?! 🤷🏻♀️
— Aileen C (@aileennc_) June 14, 2017
Now, Spotify has pulled the offending ad.
"We made a creative decision to feature Justin Bieber in our ad because we wanted to celebrate 'Despacito' as key cultural moment when music genres crossover," a spokesperson told the New York Daily News. "We realized that this could be seen as culturally insensitive so we have pulled those ads."
If you can stomach it, relive Bieber's cringe-inducing culturally insensitive performance of "Despacito" below, followed by the studio rendition of the track.