PepsiCo drops Lil Wayne over Emmet Till lyrics

PepsiCo has dropped promotional ties with Lil Wayne after lyrics he added to a remix of another rapper's song made light of Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old tortured and murdered in pre-civil rights Mississippi. "His offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand," the food and beverage corporation said in a statement. Lil Wayne, whose publicist attributed the split to "creative differences," had sent the Till family an apology, which they made public last week. The director of the Mamie Till Mobley Foundation, which honors Emmett and his mother, applauded PepsiCo's actions.