Patti LaBelle's sweet potato pies are selling out at Walmart due to a viral YouTube video praising the dessert by singer James Wright, but the songstress doesn't want to credit him for the sales upsurge. Instead, the diva claims that the pies were selling out prior to the video, and that she did it, to quote one of her most famous songs, "On My Own."
We recently brought you the story of how Wright's YouTube video, in which he devoured an entire pie while sporadically breaking out into a slew of Patti's greatest hits, had created a run on the sweet potato pies at Walmart, where they are exclusively sold for $3.48 a pop. The pies are now sold out in almost every store and are being hawked second-hand on eBay for upwards of $100 each.
Although interviews with Walmart employees confirmed that, prior to the video by Wright, the pies were not a hot item and were in fact sitting on store shelves unsold, LaBelle, in a recent interview, refused to credit Wright. Although she praises and thanks him for his "wonderful video" and calls him "just a wonderful guy," she also insists that she was "selling out before" he did it, and that "I did it myself," which is clearly not the case.
All the initial goodwill and lightheartedness around the video and the pies have taken a darker turn on social media, with many now slamming LaBelle for refusing to credit Wright and his video for the sales. One user, April Davis, sarcastically remarks that "@Walmart needs 2 get @MsPattiPatti a spreadsheet w/those sales figures so she can give #PattiPie dude props. Shes confused about sales #s." Davis goes on to ask her large Twitter following to participate in a poll to see how many people actually knew about the pies prior to James Wright's viral video. With almost 900 people weighing in, only seven percent said that they were aware of the pies before seeing the video.
Many are speculating that LaBelle doesn't want to credit Wright because she's worried she'd have to pay him or that he might sue her, but the R&B diva has no legal obligation to give Wright anything. According to social media reaction, however, LaBelle has a moral obligation to acknowledge the role Wright and his video played in her pie sales. In other words, to reference another one of Patti's greatest hits, the songstress needs to get a "New Attitude."
