Jeremy Corbyn says rapper’s ads are allowing McDonald’s to ‘culture-wash their reputation as caterers of genocide in Gaza’
Stormzy is facing a backlash from fans, and Jeremy Corbyn, all over a box of chicken McNuggets.
The world-famous rapper and Croydon star has fronted up an advertising campaign for McDonald’s at a time when the burger chain is subject to a boycott over its links to the Israeli regime.
The sordid commercial move, undoubtedly lucrative for the musician, risks undermining his career-long reputation as an outspoken campaigner on a range of issues and speaking out for social justice.
In 2023, Stormzy posted on Instagram some “fleeting thoughts”. These included “Free Palestine” and “In the future, if there is ever a clear injustice in the world no matter how big or small, 100 times out of 100 I will always be on the side of the oppressed. Unequivocally. As I always have been.”
But the post has since archived, making it no longer visible on his page. Sources close to the artist have denied that archiving the Instagram messages was part of his McDonald’s deal.
McDonald’s has launched The Stormzy Meal, consisting nine chicken nuggets, fries, BBQ dips, a Sprite Zero and an Oreo McFlurry or apple pie, with one Croydon branch being rebranded as “Big Mike’s” to mark the occasion.
“I am so gassed,” Stormzy said in his official statement. “Never thought I’d have my own order on the official menu. That’s mad.”
Causing a McFlurry: the McDonald’s branch on North End, re-branded as Big Mike’s for the duration of the Stormzy endorsement deal
But this is all at a time when McDonald’s has been the subject of a boycott since Alonyal, an Israeli franchise of the brand, announced it would be donating free meals to Israel’s military.
Palestinian-led movement BDS – Boycott, Divest, Sanction – has been calling for an “escalating global boycott of McDonald’s until it ends ties with Israeli franchisee for supporting genocide”.
Stormzy fans have made their views of his crass commercial endorsement clear.
“Stormzy, you went from speaking out for Palestine to wiping your posts for a McDonald’s deal? Guess your principles are as cheap as fast food, served with a side of hypocrisy,”
wrote one.
“Enjoy your blood money and burgers,” wrote another.
And a further post on Instagram said: “These celebrities don’t have an ounce of integrity. One moment it’s ‘free Palestine’ and the next its brand deals with McDonalds. Stormzy ain’t no goat what a fucking melt.”
Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader and sometime Glastonbury co-star, publicly criticised the rapper, describing Stormzy’s commercial deal as “hugely disappointing”.
Sell out: Stormzy in a McDonald’s TV ad with his poxy McNuggets meal
In an open letter on the Peace and Justice Project website, Corbyn wrote: “Israel’s sustained oppression of the Palestinian people has been well-documented for many years, and worldwide attention to the movement for a free Palestine has peaked since the start of the genocide in Gaza…
“Stormzy’s decision to partner with McDonald’s allows them to culture-wash their reputation as caterers of genocide in Gaza.
“We are therefore asking Stormzy to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their hour of need and respect the BDS committee’s call for a global boycott of McDonald’s by ending his new partnership with them.”
Stickers and posters declaiming the rapper, with “We regret to inform you: STORMZY HAS SOLD OUT” have appeared across London. It has been reported that the campaign is the work of Darren Cullen, a satirist whose previous targets have included Coca-Cola and Shell.
“Signs are now on every McDonald’s drive-thru in South London,” Cullen said, adding that Stormzy had “sold out to McDonald’s in the middle of the boycott for Gaza and deleted posts as part of the deal”.
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To quote Spectacular Times, “to survive, the Spectacular Society must have social control. It can recuperate a potentially threatening situation by embracing the threat, making it safe and then selling it back to us”.
Or as Joe Strummer put it, “turning rebellion into money”
It doesn’t matter how much good you do, jealous people will always look for a reason to pull you down.
“Jealous people”?
Yes. McDonald’s itself isn’t being boycotted but a franchise of it that is based in Israel so this ‘backlash’ is a mixture of jealousy because he has done well for himself and because people are using his name to highlight their cause. The treatment of the people in Gaza is atrocious but it is Israel dropping bombs not McDonald’s or Stormzy.
You’re wrong on so many counts.
There is a BSD boycott of McDonald’s.
And the backlash is out of disappointment, and anger at the hypocrisy. Jealousy has nothing to do with it.
This grandstanding attitude turns so many people away from a just cause. My going to McDonalds does not make me complicit in the bombing of Gaza, just as Stormzy’s deal doesn’t culture wash the Israeli government. Should we all just calm down a bit.
Boycotts work. Campaigns against the apartheid regime over many years targeted big business, such as Barclays Bank. It worked.
Trading in any sense of decency and moral responsibility for a Big Mac is pretty lame.