Because it apparently sounded like a racial slur, Apple removes vocals from the iPhone 14 & 14 Plus ad

When Apple launched the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, I remember hearing the ad for their two new smartphones and being unable to make out what lyric they were repeating until the very end. As it turns out a lot of people misheard it as a racial slur—to the point that Apple has now removed the vocals from the entire ad.

This song is Biggest, by English actor Idris Elba, who I just found out today also deejays under the name DJ Big Driis. The lyrics for this particular segment that Apple used involved a backing track repeating the word “biggest” before the main vocal comes in to say “this the biggest bounce of the summer”. Obviously, this is in reference to the fact that Apple was introducing a Plus variant to the regular iPhone lineup, getting rid of the Mini for the iPhone 14 generation.

Previously, if you wanted a big iPhone, you’d have to opt for the Pro Max variant which was the most expensive model in their lineup. Many probably won’t need all of the features on the Pro Max, but if all you wanted was a reliable iPhone to do phone things, you had to settle for the smaller base-model iPhone instead.

However, instead of biggest, it turns out a lot of people were hearing the n-word instead. Enough people that Apple has completely removed the vocals from the ad, just keeping the beat. Idris is still credited for the song in the video description, however.

[SOURCE]

Related

• Apple iPhone 14 Plus production halted due to poor demand, but iPhone 15 Plus still planned