American rappers Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing supermarket giant Walmart and a food manufacturing company for sabotaging their cereal brand.
A lawsuit filed on Tuesday accuses Walmart and Post Consumer Brands of hiding boxes of Snoop Cereal and incorrectly saying it was out of stock.
Lawyer Benjamin Crump called it a “blatant disregard” of a black-owned business.
In statements, both companies point to low sales of the product.
Walmart said it has a “strong history of supporting entrepreneurs” and “many factors affect the sales of any given product”.
Meanwhile Post said: “We were equally disappointed that consumer demand did not meet expectations.”
Snoop Dogg and Master P founded their own food company, Broadus Foods, in 2022. According to its website, it produces breakfast cereals, pancake mix, maple syrup and more.
According to the complaint, cited by US media, Post tried to “choke Broadus Foods out of the market” because the rappers refused to sell their upstart company to the manufacturer.
But they did agree to a partnership whereby Post would produce and distribute the products to major retailers.
Mr Crump, who is one of America’s most prominent civil rights lawyers posted a video online saying: “They wouldn’t put the cereal on the aisles, they kept it in the back of the storeroom.”
The lawsuit claims that Walmart and Post Consumer Brands “ensured that Snoop Cereal would not be available to consumers” or that Broadus Foods would “incur exorbitant costs that would eliminate any profit”.
“Post essentially worked with Walmart to ensure that none of the boxes of Snoop Cereal would ever appear on the store shelves.”
Master P posted a video on his Instagram page that purports to show a number of Walmart stores not stocking the product.
In the footage, unidentified Walmart employees in several stores are asked if they sell the cereal, and when they search the Walmart system it says the product is out of stock.
They then appear to discover unopened shipments of Snoop Cereal in the storeroom.
In its statement, Post Consumer Brands also said that it had been “excited to partner with Broadus Foods” and said it made “substantial investments” in the business.
Walmart said it would “respond as appropriate with the court” once it had seen the full complaint.
“We were equally disappointed that consumer demand did not meet expectations,” the packaged goods company added.
“Walmart values our relationships with our suppliers, and we have a strong history of supporting entrepreneurs. Many factors affect the sales of any given product, including consumer demand, seasonality, and price to name a few. We will respond as appropriate with the Court once we are served with the complaint,” the retailer stated.
By BBC News
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