ATLANTA  — Stevie Wonder is not happy with Lil Wayne’s vulgar lyrics that reference Emmett Till, a black U.S. teen whose murder in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman changed the national conversation on race and civil rights.

The R&B legend says the rapper’s disturbing verse should not have made it beyond the recording studio for the world to hear.

“You can’t equate that to Emmett Till,” Wonder said. “You just cannot do that. … I think you got to have someone around you that — even if they are the same age or older — is wiser to say, ‘Yo, that’s not happening. Don’t do that.’”

Wonder, who says he is a fan and friend of Lil Wayne, made the comments when asked what he thought of the controversial lyrics in an interview Thursday.