Mountain Dew says it has cut ties with rapper Lil Wayne over his controversial lyrics referencing civil rights icon Emmett Till.

"Beat the pu--y up like Emmett Till," Wayne raps on the song "Karate Chop (Remix)."

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Wayne, 30, had been the face of Mountain Dew's "Deweezy" campaign, a play on his "Weezy" nickname.

But in a statement released late yesterday, PepsiCo said that Wayne's "offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand."

The company said it plans no further work with the rapper.

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His publicist, Sarah Cunningham, called the split amicable in an interview with The Associated Press and said it was due to "creative differences."

Wayne had sent the Till family a letter acknowledging how the lyric may have hurt them, but it came 75 days after the song was released and appeared online before the family received it.

The family said the letter fell short of a formal apology.

Till was fatally beaten beyond recognition at age 14 for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi in 1955.