Verizon severs relationship with Akon

In a "we can’t believe it took this long" move, telecom giant Verizon has announced that they will be ending their corporate relationship with the embattled singer. The trouble began last Friday, when a video surfaced of Akon simulating sex acts with a 15 year old girl on stage in Trinidad. The concert footage which was shot on April 12th, clearly depicts the underage girl being wooed on stage by the 25 year-old star, who managed to get 6 other women up on stage to take part in an impromptu dance contest. This was apparently the final straw for Verizon, who has been featuring Akon ringtones and MP3′s on their V-Cast service, in addition to running commercials on TV. They will no longer be offering Akon songs as available downloads, and have discontinued their sponsorship of his current world tour with Gwen Stefani. Akon provided no comment on the matter, but if the artist that brought us "Smack That" and "Don’t Matter" is still on his grind, you can bet that this won’t be the last that we hear from him. Perhaps this could mean the beginning of an Akon MVNO?

[Via ENews]

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