Suno Pulls Mary J. Blige Ad After Learning She Never Authorized It

The AI music company Suno has withdrawn an advertisement featuring Mary J. Blige after discovering that the singer never authorized the campaign. The 85-second spot, which began circulating over the weekend, showed Blige in a studio as a producer demonstrated the company’s generative tools by building a track called “Pretty Flowers” — clearly modeled on her classic R&B sound. Blige even suggested adding strings and a beat before reacting approvingly.

The backlash was quick. Fans assumed the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul had endorsed AI music, a subject that has divided artists. Then Suno offered a messier explanation. The company said it entered into a deal with someone who falsely claimed to be Blige’s official representative. “As soon as we learned this was not the case, and that Ms. Blige was uncomfortable, we terminated the advertising campaign,” Suno said in a statement. Blige’s team declined to comment further, leaving open how the production got far enough to be filmed and distributed.

The timing could hardly be worse. The ad arrived alongside the launch of Suno Studio 2.0, just as Jason Isbell and other musicians filed a proposed class-action suit alleging the company exploits artists’ identities without consent. Suno denies those claims and says it blocks prompts for specific names. But launching an ad campaign with an artist who apparently never signed off on it only sharpens the larger questions about permission, likeness, and control.