Social media influencer James Wright’s humor and singing talent had people rushing to Walmart to try Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pies. Now, the man is calling out the mega-retailer.
According to a CNBC report, John Forrest Ales, the Director of Corporate Communications at Walmart, the retail store sold one pie per second for 72 hours after Wright’s YouTube review of the sweet treat went viral. Despite Wright being the reason for the rapid spike in sales, he said he wasn’t compensated during a discussion with host TS Madison on Fox Soul’s Turnt Out With TS Madison.
“Walmart promised all of these things, we still got the emails, and they didn’t do nothing,” Wright explained. “They didn’t do nothing. They said they were goin’ to do none of that.”
Wright said that Walmart purportedly held meetings to discuss potential agreements with him, but Wright wasn’t having it.
“Don’t promise somebody, like, ‘Oh, we had an executive meeting last week, and the whole meeting was just about you and what Walmart is going to do and how they are going to give you a product, and they’re going to do this, and they’re going to do this,” he said.
Wright also talked about how a woman who worked in Walmart corporate told him that he could sue the retail store for not compensating him, knowing he had something to do with the increase in sales. And while Wright considered the idea, he did not pursue any legal action.
“I just be feeling that I’m blessed, I’m happy, I’m blessed, the joy of the Lord is my strength, and I just be feeling that I’m at peace with everything,” Wright said. “I got to a point where I was just over it. I wanted to be mad, I wanted to be upset, and I was mad and I was upset but I couldn’t hold on to that stuff. I had to let that go for me.”
The viral video Wright made was of him reviewing LaBelle’s sweet potato pie. While eating the dessert, Wright sings some of LaBelle’s popular songs like “When You’ve Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven),” “On My Own,” and “Isn’t It a Shame.”
