US states blast Snoop Dogg-endorsed alcohol drink

Fifteen US states have slammed a drink endorsed by hip-hop star Snoop Dogg as a high-alcohol "binge in a can," urging the product be taken off the market for glamorizing heavy drinking and targeting underage Americans.

State officials led by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wrote a stinging letter Thursday to Illinois-based Pabst Brewing Company, maker of fruit-flavored malt beverage "Blast by Colt 45," urging the beer giant to lower the 12 percent alcohol content.

"Alcohol abuse among young people is a serious and alarming epidemic," Madigan said in the letter.

"A product like this only serves to glamorize alcohol abuse and promote binge drinking, threatening the safety of those consuming it."

Madigan's office said the high alcohol content of a 23.5-ounce (700-milliliter) can of Blast makes it equivalent to drinking an entire six-pack of American beer.

"The promotion and marketing of Blast appeals to minors (under the legal drinking age of 21), with its brightly colored cans and fruit flavors and a marketing campaign featuring hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg," it said.

An advertisement for the brew has Snoop Dogg saying "What a blast, huh!?"

It is the latest controversy for the US hip-hop icon, real name Calvin Broadus.

He was tried and acquitted for murder in 1993, the year he shot to fame with his debut album "Doggystyle," and has been denied visas to perform abroad due to convictions for drugs and firearm offenses as well as reputed ties to Los Angeles gangs.

The Blast controversy follows last year's recommendation by the US Food and Drug Administration to pull alcoholic energy drinks from the market because it determined that combining caffeine and alcohol was unsafe.