Rappers Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing US supermarket chain Walmart and food manufacturer Post Consumer Brands, claiming that the two companies conspired to sabotage the success of the pair’s new breakfast cereal enterprise.
Snoop Cereal launched last summer, with Master P hailing parent company Broadus Foods as the first Black-owned cereal company in the US: “This has been going on for over 100 years, that we’ve been consumers and never owners, so we’re changing that game.” The rappers partnered with Post to produce the cereal itself.
As reported in Billboard, they now allege “diabolical actions” and “underhanded dealings” as Post attempted to “choke Broadus Foods out of the market” after the rappers refused to sell their company to Post “in totality”.
In the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, it is also alleged that “Post essentially worked with Walmart to ensure that none of the boxes of Snoop Cereal would ever appear on the store shelves”. The lawsuit claims that the cereal was falsely shown as being out of stock at the supermarket, with boxes kept hidden in stockrooms, “coded to not be put out on the store shelves”.
Post Consumer Brands has not yet responded to the suit, while Walmart said in a statement that the company “values our relationships with our suppliers, and we have a strong history of supporting entrepreneurs. Many factors affect the sales of any given product, including consumer demand, seasonality and price to name a few. We will respond as appropriate with the court once we are served with the complaint”.
Without specifically naming the lawsuit, Master P posted a video comment after the filing, saying: “We are building a family brand. Dr Martin Luther King showed us how to dream, fought racism and guess what? We’re doing the same in corporate America for equal rights for everybody.”
Snoop Cereal previously launched in 2022 as Snoop Loopz, but was blocked by Kellogg’s who claimed the name infringed on their Froot Loops brand. In the same year, Broadus Foods also launched a separate breakfast brand, Momma Snoop, with products including maple syrup and oatmeal.
In a statement on its website, Broadus Foods says the company is “committed to inspire economic empowerment by adding diversity into the grocery stores industry and creating opportunities for minority-owned food products and brands”.