A Brief History of 50 Cent's Pop Culture Pettiness

50 Cent’s beef ain’t just for rappers—he’s expanded his petty party to Hollywood as well.

50 Cent at 57th Monte Carlo TV Festival
Getty

Image via Getty

50 Cent at 57th Monte Carlo TV Festival

50 Cent has made a career on beef. Whether it's storming into the rap game jacking everyone in "How To Rob" or his whirlwind feuds with everyone from Floyd Mayweather to Ja Rule, 50 has tapped into the world's need for drama and went straight to the bank with it.

As 50 Cent has seen his career flourish outside of the rap world and into more crevices in Hollywood, he's ended up rubbing elbows (and butting heads) with stars of varying degrees. With the growth of social media, 50 has been able to channel his petty in different ways. With the new season of Power exciting the internets over the weekend, it made me recall one of his more recent petty parties involved the showrunner of the series, Courtney Kemp.

As I'm wont to do, I figured why not take a brief look back at 50 at his most petty, but in the realm of pop culture? You game? Let's dish.

Suing Taco Bell...and winning

Taco Bell

Back in 2009, Taco Bell thought it'd be smart to send out a letter addressed to 50 Cent to ask him to change his name to witty names like "70 Cent" or "99 Cent" to help them promote their low-cost menu items. It was a corny attempt at getting free publicity using one of the kings of keeping his name in the media, but instead of biting the chalupa, 50 flipped it on them in the form of a lawsuit alleging that Taco Bell used his name and trademark without prior authorization. 50 had the last laugh, as his courtroom pettiness netted him $4 million in damages.

Breaking up with Chelsea Handler because of Ciara

Chelsea Handler at Brady Center Bear Awards Gala

While 50 Cent and comedian/talk show host Chelsea Handler are cordial enough to joke about old nudes on the 'gram, 50 admitted to acting like an "eighth grader" when he found out that his old-flame Ciara was going to be a guest on Handler's Chelsea Lately program. According to what 50 told Howard Stern, he felt obligated to tell Handler that he'd still been keeping in contact with Ciara, and that there might be some "tension" when Ciara hit the set. Due to all of this drama Handler says she stopped contacting him, effectively ending their relationship.

Challenging Floyd Mayweather to read a Harry Potter book

Floyd Mayweather attends 'All Eyez On Me' premiere

During the height of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, 50 Cent and Floyd Mayweather's friendship was going through one. At one point, 50 decided to up the ante with his disses, challenging Floyd Mayweather to a special version of the Ice Bucket Challenge, where 50 would donate $750,000 to the charity of Mayweather's choice, if he could read one page of a Harry Potter book.

His pettiness actually caused Charlamagne Tha God to release audio of Mayweather struggling with reading a drop for Power 105. Damn, 50.

The Vivica A. Fox fiasco

50 Cent and Vivica A. Fox at 2003 MTV Video Music Awards

Actress Vivica A. Fox and 50 Cent had reportedly been "more than friends" dating back to 2003, and while their relationship was mostly off for the decade-plus following, they'd taken shots at each other for their time together on numerous occasions. In 2015, Fox went on Watch What Happens Live! to insinuate that 50 was gay, 50 was on the warpath, taking to Instagram to say that Fox thinks he's gay "because I let her lick my ass," which is apparently an act that he said he enjoyed as far back as 2011. Still, 50 was on one, reposting Photoshopped images of Vivica in different booty-licking positions as well as numerous unflattering images of her to boot.

Clapping at Cookie

Taraji P. Henson at 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards - Press Room

After Empire star Taraji P. Henson hopped online to defend her homegirl Vivica A. Fox from the aforementioned viral fuckery, 50 decided to direct his aim at Taraji and Empire, which he'd said "just borrows marketing ideas from Power because they have the same target audience," following that up with a pretty petty diss: "I don’t have a problem with the cast, I think that they’re going to be great in some of my new projects." 50's petty was only increased by Henson, who was forever the bigger person in the ordeal, saying “I am proud of your accomplishments black man. Maybe your karma is blocking your blessings.”

Fake beef with the Power showrunner

50 Cent at STARZ 'Power' Season 4 L.A. Screening And Party

Prior to Power getting the official season four return call from Starz, 50 was 'gramming his beef with his own show over his dick making an appearance during Season 3. For some reason, he decided to clap at Power showrunner Courtney Kemp, calling her a "bitch" because of his, ahem, "member" showing up on screen. Kemp didn't hesitate to call 50 out, saying that he "signed the waiver like everybody else," but that following March, Kemp confirmed that the beef was fake saying "The whole thing just gave us so much more buzz and helped me realize how we can use social media to our advantage. 50 Cent is a brilliant marketer."

AKA, the perfect description for 50's entire career.

Telling people to catch All Eyez On Me on the "Fire Stick"

Demetrius Shipp Jr. at Premiere Of Lionsgate's 'All Eyez On Me'

The reviews for All Eyez On Me haven't been pleasant, and after Jada Pinkett-Smith questioned the validity of certain scenes of the film, 50 Cent got on Instagram to share his feels about the 2Pac biopic, which he says "felt like I was watching a Lifetime TV movie in a theater." In a series of tweets (most of which are now deleted), 50 did tell people to "catch that shit on a fire stick," but the wildest thing is, the post is a picture of himself, not of 2Pac. 

Ultimately, as long as there's a way to keep his name on people's mouths (and, more importantly, social media platforms that won't repress his words), you can expect 50 Cent to bring the petty to every beef he's in. And while most of his petty moments will be all of the place on the "is this really real?" scale, you can no doubt expect 50 to pack a powerfully petty punch with each and every blow.

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