Mary J. Blige is again reflecting on her infamous 2012 Burger King commercial, plus all of the controversy and backlash that came in the aftermath of the ad airing.
On April 2, 2012, Mary J. Blige made headlines as she partnered with Burger King to peddle its Chicken Snap Wraps. The product was marketed as BK’s latest “healthier” menu item offered.
In the infamous 30-second advertisement, shared to BK’s YouTube account, the R&B legend passionately sang about BK’s newest item. The catchy lyrics read, “Crispy chicken, fresh lettuce, three cheeses, ranch dressing, wrapped up in a tasty, flour tortilla.”
According to Billboard, MJB joined Salma Hayek, David Beckham, Sofia Vergara, Steven Tyler, and Jay Leno in a growing list of celebrities making cameos in BK commercials. However, MJB’s BK ad caught serious backlash and was widely criticized for being “stereotypical” and complete “buffoonery.” Within 24 hours Burger King pulled its ad featuring Mary J. Blige singing about chicken.
On April 3, 2012, Billboard reported that the fast-food chain blamed the pull on music licensing issues. The company said it hoped to have the MJB “ads back on the air soon.”
By April 4, 2012, Burger King had apologized to Mary J. Blige for releasing “an unfitted version” of the ad spot. According to TMZ, MJB said she never signed-off on the ad — at least not the version everyone saw online. The singer said:
“I agreed to be a part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that’s not what was happening in that clip. I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. But, if you’re a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw go out.”
Burger King Apologizes To Mary J. Blige After Commercial Controversy
On April 4, 2012, Burger King also released a statement. According to Billboard, it read:
“Burger King is very proud to have Mary J. Blige, Jay Leno, Steven Tyler, David Beckham, Salma Hayek and Sofia Vergara as part of its A-list celebrity line-up promoting the launch of the new BK® menu items. Unfortunately, the Mary J. Blige commercial was released prematurely before all of the licensing and final approvals were obtained. We would like to apologize to Mary J. and all of her fans for airing an ad that was not final. We know how important Mary J. is to her fans, and we are currently in the process of finalizing the commercial. We hope to have the final ad on the air soon.”
By June 2012, MJB again addressed the controversial Burger King ad. During an interview with Hot 97’s Angie Martinez, the ‘No More Drama” singer admitted the commercial was a mistake. She explained that she was surprised and embarrassed by the controversy following her burger King cameo. According to Billboard, MJB said:
“I wanted to crawl under the bed. It was a mistake, but I did it because I thought it was something that wouldn’t come out like that. It was sold to us that I would be shot in an iconic way… It hurt my feelings. It crushed me for like two days… I want to apologize to everyone who was offended who thought I would do something that was so disrespectful to our culture. I would never do anything like that. I thought I was doing something right.”
After 14 Years, Mary J. Blige Still Doesn’t Find Burger King Commercial And Controversy Funny
Fast forward 14 years to April 2026 and MJB is “still not laughing” at her infamous Burger King ad. While appearing on the April 17, episode of Scott Evans‘ ‘House Guest‘ series on YouTube, MJB again addressed her BK ad controversy. Evans asked the R&B diva if she can finally laugh at all of the drama, she bluntly said:
“Um, no. I’m not because I would never laugh at that because my true honest to true fans did not think that sh*t was funny. The whole way that sh*t went down was wrong. The whole way they shot it was wrong. It was set up to make exactly what happened in the press happen like that. [I really feel that way].
And so it’s still not a laughing matter to me, you know because, I was deeply, deeply affected. Now, I learned a lot from it. But it’s not something I’m like [fake laughs]. No, it’s not f**king funny. But laugh, you motherf**kers, if you want. Still, I don’t care. But the bottom line is my fans were confused. The real true fans, not the people that, [dip in and dip out].
But the people was like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I didn’t really know what was going on. But I had bad representation, bad management, bad everything, and everybody dropped the ball. And I’m holding everything. That was a learning curve, but it’s still not funny.”
MJB continued to admit that even with all the years in between the controversy and people joking about and parodying the ad, it still hurts. She acknowledged that while people are poking fun, it was her real life affected.
That doesn’t feel good, still. But I learned from it, though. It doesn’t feel good because I was getting clobbered for no f**king reason. But, it did show me something. One minute people are with you and one minute they are not. It showed me just how fickle the game is, and it showed me exactly who my friends were. A lot of my so-called friends are not around anymore. I was like a disease to people. And nobody wanted to be affiliated.
So, the people that—this is where I learned, I go where I’m celebrated at. Because they would treat me like I was a disease or something. So, I said, ‘You know, I know how to do this. Thank you, Lord, for the lesson. Thank you for getting me through it. Now I know how people get down.’
And that was the blessing in the whole thing, just learning how f**ked up and fickle people are. And one day when you’re hot, the minute some sh*t happens that you can’t even explain, they’re gone.
Everything is not funny. But people laugh. Everything is, you know everything is… [fake laughs]. Nah, sh*t is not funny.”
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