Capitol Records said on Tuesday it has “severed ties” with virtual rapper FN Meka “effective immediately” after being accused of racism and cultural appropriation.
“We offer our deepest apologies to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about equity and the creative process behind it,” read a statement from Capitol Music Group, which is part of Universal Music.
“We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive feedback in the past couple of days — your input was invaluable as we came to the decision to end our association with the project.”
FN Meka is an augmented reality (AR) rapper created in 2019 by Anthony Martini and Brandon Le of Factory New. Voiced by a human (an anonymous rapper Factory New has said is Black), the character's music is said to be partly derived from artificial intelligence.
According to a press release from Capitol earlier this month, FN Meka – with more than 1 billion views on TikTok – was the world's "first AR artist" to sign with a major label. His debut single "Florida Water," featuring Gunna and Fortnite player Clix, was released on Aug. 12.
Industry Blackout, described in its Twitter profile as “a unified body of black people in the industry committed to changing the community,” demanded that the deal be terminated.
“While we applaud innovation in tech that connects listeners to music and enhances the experience, we find fault in the lack of awareness in how offensive this caricature is,” reads an open letter shared on Tuesday. “It is a direct insult to the Black community and our culture. An amalgamation of gross stereotypes, appropriative mannerisms that derive from Black artists, complete with slurs infused in lyrics.
“This digital effigy is a careless abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Martini blamed the termination of the deal on “blogs that have latched onto a clickbait headline and created this narrative.
“Some of the early content, now if you take it out of context, it obviously looks worse or different than it was intended.”