50 Cent Is Threatening To Leave Starz
50 Cent isn’t just a rapper and a professional hater, he’s also made himself a nice little career as a TV producer and actor. For six seasons, 50 Cent appeared on Starz’s Power as an actor (playing revenge-hungry Kanan Stark), and he’s also the executive producer of the series, as well as the Power spin-offs, Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and Power Book IV: Force. So 50 Cent seems to have a pretty sweet setup over at Starz. Except, he’s not happy, and he recently made it known that he wants out of the Starz family asap.
50 Cent made his formal declaration to secede on Instagram, so you know he’s serious. Most people would go through their publicist and leak something to Deadline, but 50 cut straight to the chase and presented his intentions with a series of cohesive statements. Sorry, I used the wrong words there. That makes it seem like 50 Cent was treating this as a serious situation. No, 50 Cent let Starz know he’s prepared to leave them by Instagramming pictures of suitcases. Five different posts worth of suitcases. Here’s a sampling of what 50 Cent was up to on Instagram recently:
The implication in that caption is that Starz hasn’t yet renewed one of the Power spin-offs, Power Book IV: Force. The other two (Ghost and Raising Kanan were both renewed for additional seasons last year). And according to the internet, 50 Cent is semi-correct when he says that Force is Starz’s highest-rated show. Technically that would be Power Book II: Ghost, followed by Outlander, then Force. But to give credit where credit is due, Force does have very strong ratings and recently broke a Starz record with its premiere.
Here’s another post from 50, in which he makes it sound like he’s pretty much thrown his Starz staff ID badge in the shredder and turned in his parking lot pass.
In another post, 50 Cent drags Anil Kurian into it (he would be the head of development at G-Unit Film & TV), by writing: “Anil get your fvcking bag’s in the car now, we are out of here, take that fvcking sign off the door no more G-unit film and television over here.” In another, he demands all the scripts be packed up and removed. In his final of five posts, he channels his inner dad-packing-for-vacation and basically tells everyone to get the lead out.
“Michael what the fuck are you takings so long for, let’s go! Why are you folding all of your clothing so perfect, we can just get new clothes when we get where we going.”
This isn’t the first time 50 Cent has threatened to walk away from Starz. Back in 2016, 50 Cent threatened to quit Starz and Power, due to Power getting zero Golden Globe nominations. Starz responded to that by saying that they couldn’t confirm if 50 Cent was serious about leaving but agreed that they too were upset by Power getting snubbed by the HFPA. Starz has yet to comment on 50’s latest social media tantrum. Complex notes that in 2018, 50 Cent signed a four-year deal with Starz that was reportedly worth an estimated $150 million, so his contract is up and he could be ready to walk somewhere else. I hope Starz handles things gently. 50 Cent’s ego bruises faster than a grocery store peach, and he has been known to go full hater on social media. I just don’t know if he’s ever had Instagram beef with a cable network before. I’m sure he’s currently working on a series of devastatingly shallow insults, like how the network executives all smell like Men’s Wearhouse suits, and that the Starz office bathrooms only use cheap 2-ply toilet paper.
Pic: INSTAR