Right message, wrong messenger? That’s what many people are saying after Diddy called for corporations to start paying Black creatives.
Diddy was feeling quite REVOLTlutionary Thursday when he shared an open letter calling out “corporate America,” specifically General Motors and its spending of advertising money when it comes to Black-owned media like Revolt TV, which he founded.
In his open letter, he says Revolt does receive ad revenue from General Motors but explains the relationship between the two companies is “not an example of success.” He also broke down that Black-owned companies have to fight “for crumbs” due to General Motors and other companies refusing to “fairly invest” in Black-owned media.
“In 2019, brands spent $239 billion on advertising. Less than 1% of that was invested in Black-owned media companies,” the mogul said. “Out of the roughly $3 billion General Motors spent on advertising, we estimate only $10 million was invested in Black-owned media. Only $10 million out of $3 billion!”
Diddy also called on corporate America to reinvest an equitable percentage of what it takes from the Black community back into the community.
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/1380145382974443520?s=20
These are all great ideas, but Twitter was swift to remind Mr.Combs about his history regarding paying artists on his label Bad Boy Records. To make matters worse, some people also used the moment to highlight receiving unpaid job offers from Revolt TV.
https://twitter.com/TheJessieWoo/status/1380187691329945600?s=20
We are definitely sure this is not the reaction Brother Love, aka Diddy, aka Puff Daddy, was looking for when he dropped that link on timelines. Despite all of the reactions to his open letter, he seems quite unbothered.
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/1380504755756277760?s=20
You can peep more reactions in the gallery below.
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Photo: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83
