Capitol Drops ‘Virtual Rapper’ FN Meka After Backlash

This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

The New York Times:

Capitol Music Group, the company that houses major record labels including Capitol and Blue Note, said on Tuesday that it was severing ties with its latest controversial artist: FN Meka, a virtual “robot rapper” powered partly by artificial intelligence, who boasts more than 10 million followers on TikTok.

The company had previously teased the project — the first augmented reality artist to sign to a major label, it said — as “just a preview of what’s to come.” Yet after growing backlash to what skeptical observers said amounted to digital blackface — including content that seemed to trivialize incarceration and police brutality — Capitol said it had “severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately.”

more

Not all embedded content is displayed here. You can view the original to see embedded videos, tweets, etc.