Is Apartments.com Super Bowl 50 Ad With Lil Wayne Cooking For George Washington Racist?

Apartments.com made a Super Bowl commercial in which Lil Wayne cooks for George Washington that some think is racially insensitive.

Weezy & George Washington In Apartments.com Ad

In the Jeffersons-themed Apartments.com ad, Jeff Goldblum performs the show’s theme song, “Movin’ On Up,” while seated at a grand piano that is literally being moved up the side of a massive New York City apartment building.

Once Goldblum and his piano, transported by a crane, get to the penthouse of the Upper East Side digs, he spots Lil Wayne, who is flipping some burgers for President George Washington – which is what some found problematic. The first president of the United States was famously a slave owner.

What Apartments.com was going for was making a reference to The Jeffersons‘ main characters George and Louise Jefferson while advertising renting a new apartment.

“What we wanted to do for the Super Bowl was a little bit different—it really is about celebrating apartment lifestyles,”Apartments.com’s CMO Becky Carr told AdWeek. “I think the commercial talks about the joys and excitement of moving on up into a new apartment.”

“A year ago, the apartment marketplace for us was a $100 million, and it’s doubled—ending 2015 with $200 million,” she added. “What can you do to top what we did last year but reach a hundred million-plus audience through the iconic opportunity to be on the Super Bowl? This provides a platform for us to take it to the next level.”

As for Lil Wayne, he doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. It was “meant to be funny and silly and not the least bit offensive,” a source close to the rapper told TMZ, adding, “People need to calm down.”