Yahoo News Snoop Dogg and Master P Sue Walmart, Post for Sabotaging New Cereal Brand
Rappers Snoop Dogg and Master P have slapped Walmart and food maker Post Consumers Brands with a lawsuit that alleges their minority-owned cereal brand was kept off store shelves to thwart its launch.
Snoop Cereal, from Broadus Foods, was launched in 2022 by Calvin Broadus, also known as Snoop Dogg, and Percy Miller, aka Master P. They aimed to create a family-owned company that also added diversity to the food market.
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Broadus Foods then approached Post Consumers Brands to secure wide distribution of Snoop Cereal on retail store shelves. The 34-page lawsuit, brought in the State of Minnesota District Court in Dakota County, indicates Post at first offered to buy out Los Angeles-based Broadus Foods and, when rebuffed, entered into a partnership and promotion agreement with Snoop Dogg and Master P.
The suit alleges Post never carried through on its promises to Broadus Foods and instead set out to sabotage the Snoop Cereal brand. “Essentially, because Snoop Dogg and Master P refused to sell Snoop Cereal in totality, Post entered a false arrangement where they could choke Broadus Foods out of the market, thereby preventing Snoop Cereal from being sold or produced by any competitor,” the lawsuit states.
Post allegedly launched the product in big box retailer Walmart’s stores nationwide in July 2023. “The cereal was an immediate success. However, within a few months, customers could not locate Snoop Cereal in the aisles of their Walmart store,” the lawsuit states as the product was held back in stockrooms without being rolled out into store aisles.
Dogg and Master P also allege that customers who attempted to order Snoop Cereal online were wrongly told the product was out of stock to keep the newly launched product out of the market.
“Post essentially worked with Walmart to ensure that none of the boxes of Snoop Cereal would ever appear on the store shelves. This automatically resulted in losses to the product, which cut into the profits that Broadus Foods was supposed to receive from the agreement,” the lawsuit adds.
In response, a Walmart spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement: “Walmart 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 to the court once we are served with the complaint.”
In its own statement sent to THR, Post Consumers Brands said the company “was excited to partner with Broadus Foods, and we made substantial investments in the business. We were equally disappointed that consumer demand did not meet expectations.”
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