The rapper asserts that Walmart colluded with Snoop Cereal in order to subvert Post, who was supposed to be a crucial partner.
Two massive corporations, Walmart and Post Consumer Brands, are being sued by Snoop Dogg and Master P for allegedly using “underhanded dealing” and “diabolical actions” to undermine the rappers’ cereal brand.
In a complaint submitted on Tuesday, February 6, the rappers’ business, Broadus Foods, asserted that it had secretly “ensured that Snoop Cereal would not be available to consumers” or would “incur exorbitant costs that would eliminate any profit” following its partnership agreement with Post.
Benjamin Crump, a well-known lawyer for Broadus Foods, argues that the action was retaliation for Snoop (Calvin Broadus) and Master P (Percy Miller) declining to sell their business to Post.
“Basically, 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, because Snoop Dogg and Master refused to sell Snoop Cereal in its entirety,” Crump wrote in the complaint on Tuesday.
As a defendant in the case, Walmart was said to have been instrumental in “the most egregious example” of Post’s purported misconduct: “Post essentially worked with Walmart to ensure that There would never be a Snoop Cereal box on the store shelves.”
A Walmart representative responded to Billboard by saying, “Walmart values our relationships with our suppliers and we have a strong history of supporting entrepreneurs,” in a statement. Any given product’s sales are influenced by a variety of factors, such as price, seasonality, and consumer demand. After we receive notice of the complaint, we will reply to the court as appropriate.
A request for comment regarding the lawsuit’s allegations was not immediately answered by a Post spokesperson.
The complaint on Tuesday claims that Snoop and Master P founded Snoop Cereal and Broadus Foods in 2022 with the intention of “bringing diversity to the food industry” and leaving a “legacy” for their offspring. They claim that the “breakfast juggernaut” tried to acquire the business outright when they approached Post about a production and distribution partnership, but they were turned down.
They assert that Post, having been spurned from acquiring the startup, entered into an agreement in which it would not only manufacture the goods but also “treat Snoop Cereal as one of its own brands” and supply it to big-box stores like Walmart, Target, Kroger, and Amazon. However, they assert that Post was secretly attempting to undermine the fledgling business.
According to Crump, “Post did not share Broadus Foods’ aspirations and goals, and it had no intention of treating Snoop Cereal equally as its own brands.” Rather, Post meant to merely make appearances that they were abiding by the Agreement.
The lawsuit claimed that the circumstances at Walmart constituted the worst example of this kind of alleged mistreatment. At the large chain, Snoop and Master P say that Snoop Cereal sold well at first, but soon the system at Walmart started to falsely indicate that the product was out of stock.
The company’s lawyers state that each of these stores had multiple boxes of Snoop Cereal in their stockrooms that were coded to not be placed on the store shelves after “Store employees will conduct further investigation.” Unlike the other Post-branded cereal boxes nearby, these Snoop Cereal boxes had been in storage for months and had never been distributed to customers.
Technically speaking, Post is accused in the lawsuit of defrauding Broadus Foods, making careless false statements, and violating its fiduciary duty to the smaller business. Walmart is accused in the case of aiding and abetting Post in violating its fiduciary duty and of committing so-called tortious interference by agreeing to Post’s scheme. Furthermore, according to the lawsuit, both businesses collaborated in a civil conspiracy.