Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad: This Director Calls It A ‘Fiasco’

“Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star Kendall Jenner came under fire after she starred in a controversial Pepsi ad that showed her at a protest that peacefully ended after she gave a police officer a can of Pepsi.

People got upset because the commercial seemed to suggest that protests, particularly regarding the Black Lives Matter movement, could’ve ended peacefully if protesters were kinder to the police.

American director Spike Lee, known for films such as “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X,” was recently asked by Variety what he thought about the ad. His answer was no different from the thoughts of majority of the public.

READ: Consumers start Pepsi boycott after Kendall Jenner ad sparks fury

“When you deal with diversity and you don’t have anybody in the room who looks like what you’re trying to do, then you have a fiasco like the Pepsi spot,” Lee said.

“It was horrible,” he continued. “The pregnant woman in Seattle got shot the other day. Philando [Castile], the whole world saw him get killed on Facebook, and the cop walked, and Pepsi did something like [that]. Don’t get me started. That was a complete appropriation of Black Lives Matter, and Black Lives Matter is not a joke. Black people getting shot down left and right, and cops are walking and they are going to make a commercial out of that?”

Due to the negative reactions to the ad, Pepsi pulled it out and offered a statement of apology, according to The Independent. “Pepsi was trying to project a global a message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue,” the company said.

They also extended their apology to Jenner, who was heavily criticized because of her participation in the Pepsi commercial. “We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position,” said Pepsi.

Jenner did not react to the Pepsi ad backlash, but her sister Kim Kardashian said during her guest appearance on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” on May 28 that she felt sorry for what happened. “She totally understood at the end of the day, and she felt really awful for it. She just wants to move on from it,” said Kardashian.