50 Cent faced a backlash for congratulating Donald Trump on his electoral victory, despite having initially refused to perform at the president-elect's rally. The 49-year-old hip-hop artist, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, encountered scrutiny in the comments section of his Instagram post shared on Wednesday, following Trump's triumph.
Underneath the photos of himself with Trump, he captioned, "I don't care how the fight goes, I'm leaving with the winner's s***," accompanied by a facepalm emoji and "congratulations!" Despite initially refusing—he had boasted about turning down a $3 million offer—to take the stage at Trump's campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City in late October, he now seemed to be aligning himself with the victorious candidate.
In response, numerous social media users accused him of hypocrisy. They called him out for having boasted about declining the seven-figure paycheck and then seemingly siding with Trump after his win. Last week, during an appearance on The Breakfast Club podcast, 50 Cent had claimed that he had been offered a staggering $3 million to perform at Trump's rally.
"Yeah, they offered me $3 million," he told podcast co-host Charlamagne Tha God, when asked about the event and the Republican National Convention over the summer. The rapper explained that he had turned down both events, revealing his reasoning to the podcast hosts.
"I didn't even go far," he said about the lucrative offers. "I'm afraid of politics, you understand? I do not like it." He compared the controversial and divisive topic to religion, explaining that he avoids such subjects. "Look, if you say, 'I stay away from religion,' I stay away from politics," he said, adding controversial rapper Kanye West as an example. "Religion—that's the formula for the confusion that sent Kanye to Japan. He said something about both of those things and now he can only go to Japan. So, you know, I don't want to get into that, man."
Conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren commented under Jackson's post: "Fight fight fight!! Win win win!!" Some social media users questioned why he had rejected the lucrative offer to perform at Trump's campaign rally. One comment read: "Sooooo why u ain't take the 3 million?" Another user added: "Why did you have to post this? You said you were staying out of politics. I am so disappointed."
One Instagram commenter questioned his previous stance on avoiding certain topics. "I thought you said there were two things you don't discuss?" "This ain't it," one Instagram user wrote, while another commented: "You make it so hard to like you." "I told y'all he was a silent Trump supporter," one comment pointed out. An Instagram user called the rapper "soulless for money and moves," emphasizing that "this is real life, not TV." Another person agreed that his actions were motivated by money. "Of course he's leaving with the winner. He's a billionaire," the comment read.
However, others came to the entrepreneur's defense. "He said he moves with winners, period! POTUS for the next four years. I get it, business [is] never personal."
