Actress Slams 50 Cent’s Insensitivity in Letter
Even after being lauded for being a smart businessman and philanthropist, 50 Cent still hasn’t learned his lesson when it comes to fan interaction. The G-Unit general who recently became so enraged with his Interscope record deal that he released his album for free, couldn’t control himself on Twitter this week after responding to one fan’s disparaging remarks. On Wednesday a fan tweeted to 50, “Release the album or get shot again,”referencing his ‘Five (Murder by Numbers),’ the same project he later gave away. Obviously not amused by the reference to the nine bullets that nearly ended his life, 50 responded, “Yeah I just saw your picture fool, you look autistic. I don’t want no special ed kids on my time line, follow some body else.”
50’s rant, while quick, caused controversy for legions of people that follow him on the social network including actress Holly Robinson Peete. Peete, who’s openly advocates autism awareness, took to her personal website to not only share her thoughts on the situation, but to slam 50 for making an insensitive comment about autistic fans like her son.”I’ve met you in passing over the years and I know you are a bright, astute businessman and legitimate philanthropist, so it is with a bit of sincere confusion that I ask you … Do you even know what autism is?,” she wrote. “And what exactly does “autistic” look like? Do you know how wildly prevalent autism is?”
She also asked him to delete the insensitive tweets and added, “This is my son Rodney Peete. He has autism. So I guess this is what autistic looks like? He is in special ed. He loves rap music and is a HUGE fan of yours. He’s a tremendous kid. He has to deal with so much trying to fit in. This isn’t helping.”
50 Cent’s tweets have since been deleted.
Read Holly Robinson Peete’s letter to 50 Cent in full below. -danielle canada
