Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing Walmart and Post Consumer Brands over claims the two giant companies are sabotaging the rappers' cereal brand with “signature deals” and “diabolical actions.”
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (Feb. 6), the rapper's company, Broadus Foods, alleged that after entering into a partnership agreement with Post, the company “secretly ensured that Snoop Cereal would not be available to consumers” or that it “would excessive costs were incurred which would wipe out any profit.'
Broadus Foods, represented by eminent attorney Benjamin Crabbeclaims the move was payback after Snoop (Calvin Broadus) and Master P (Percy Miller) refused to sell their company to Post.
“Essentially, because Snoop Dogg and the Master refused to sell Snoop cereal in its entirety, the Post entered [a] false agreement where they could choke Broadus Foods out of the market, thereby preventing any competitor from selling or producing Snoop Cereal,” Crump wrote in Tuesday's complaint.
The lawsuit also named Walmart as a defendant, saying the retail giant played a key role in the “most egregious example” of Post's alleged wrongdoing: “Post effectively cooperated with Walmart to ensure that none of the Snoop Cereal boxes would ever appeared on store shelves.”
In a statement in response, a Walmart spokesperson said Advertising sign: “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 such as consumer demand, seasonality and price to name a few. We will respond accordingly to the Court once the complaint is served on us.”
A Post spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit's allegations.
According to Tuesday's complaint, Snoop and Master P launched Broadus Foods and Snoop Cereal in 2022 in an effort to “add diversity to the food industry” and create a “legacy” they could leave behind for families their. When they approached the Post about a production and distribution partnership, they said the “morning buff” tried to buy the company outright, but they declined.
Blocked from acquiring the pioneering company, they claim Post has agreed to a partnership under which it will not only manufacture the products but also “treat Snoop Cereal as one of its own brands” and distribute it to major retailers , including Walmart, Target, Kroger and Amazon. . But behind the scenes, they claim the Post was working to sabotage the new company.
“Unbeknownst to Broadus Foods, Post was not aligned with its goals and dreams and had no intention of treating Snoop Cereal equally with its own brands,” Crump writes. “Rather, the Post intended only to give the appearance that they were following the Agreement.”
The worst case of such alleged mistreatment, according to the lawsuit, was the situation at Walmart. Snoop and Master P claim that Snoop Cereal initially sold well at the mass chain, but that Walmart's system soon began to falsely indicate that the product was out of stock.
“However, upon further investigation by store employees, each of these stores had multiple boxes of Snoop cereal in their warehouses that were coded to keep them off the store shelves,” the company's lawyers wrote. “Unlike other Post-branded cereal boxes, these Snoop cereal boxes sat in warehouses for months without ever being made available to customers.”
In technical terms, the suit alleges that Post breached its agreements and fiduciary duty to Broadus Foods, as well as defrauded the smaller company and made negligent misrepresentations. The suit alleges that Walmart committed so-called tortious interference by following Post's plan and that it aided and abetted Post's breach of its fiduciary duty. And the lawsuit alleges that both companies committed political conspiracy by working together.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/legal/snoop-dogg-cereal-brand-sabotaged-walmart-post-lawsuit-1235601138/
