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I admit to getting a good chuckle on occasion from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s no-holds-barred Instagram feed. He clearly wants to give everyone the impression that nothing is out of bounds for him, even going so far as poking fun at his longtime rival Rick Ross with a savage Rocky IV reference following Ross’ near-death experience earlier this year.
But 50’s latest IG stunt is a bridge too far, even for him. He caught a digital beat down for coming at actor Terry Crews, who is currently engaged in legal proceedings against Hollywood agent Adam Venit, whom Crews says sexually assaulted him at a party in 2016.
shit like this is the reason men don’t come forward as victims of sexual assault often. 50 Cent is publicly mocking Terry Crews, allowing Russell Simmons (friends with Crews’ abuser who tried to get him to drop the charges) to openly laugh at him. pic.twitter.com/J16TUvDUYi
— wesley (@wslymcln) June 26, 2018
Backlash caused Fif to take down the post. But, channeling every bit of energy left in his fading star, he couldn’t leave well enough alone: He followed up the deleted post with the video of Will Smith slapping a prankster reporter who tried to kiss him, suggesting that’s how Crews should’ve dealt with Venit. (This post has since been deleted as well.)
Russell Simmons’ dusty ass had the unmitigated gall to chime in on 50’s first deleted post with a crying-laughing emoji. Considering all the bullshit Simmons is under fire for, the ink should just be drying on the resignation letters of his managers and publicists as I type.
Look, I get that Fif hasn’t had a hit song since T-Mobile Sidekicks were still hot and that his executive producer pull on Power is the only reason we’re still forced to watch him marble-mouth through his scenes. But someone should’ve pulled his coat and told him that coming at any sexual assault victim in 2018 is not the move to maintain brand relevance.
Unfortunately, I’m guessing that this outrage over 50’s weak-ass opinion regarding Crews will go only so far considering that many people refuse to acknowledge the very real, very prominent issue of sexual assault against men: According to RAINN, 1 out of every 10 rape victims in the United States is male.
#MeToo Support
The #MeToo movement might be the first time in history that male sexual assault survivors have been provided a platform to talk about issues many of them have harbored for most of their lives (a great deal of male survivors, like female survivors, were assaulted during childhood).
This is sickening.
I get asked on the regular why I think the #metooMVMT hasn’t taken off in hip-hop/r&b – well, case in point.
And @UncleRUSH you need not be laughing at anything related to sexual violence, bruh. ?? https://t.co/PuzcREzWt1
— Tarana (@TaranaBurke) June 27, 2018
People also struggle with Crews as a high-profile “spokesman” for male sexual assault survivors because he’s 6-foot-3, his muscles have muscles and he’s spent an entire career playing some version of the dude who can whip everyone’s ass in the room. But his assault story has nothing to do with not being able to defend himself against Venit, who has the physique of a bag of whip cream in comparison to Crews.
It’s about the fact that Venit had influence over Crews’ career; power is the main dynamic at the foundation of most sexual assaults of any gender. If Crews responded to Venit, a white dude, by beating him to a bloody pulp at a party, his career would really be over and he’d be in a prison yard somewhere. Presumably getting even more muscles.
A Graceful Response
Crews spoke in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, during which he explained how his career took a hit from making the allegations against Venit – a troublingly common refrain from female actresses, especially in the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s reckoning. Crews even responded to 50 Cent’s post with the same grace that has him as a free man still securing the bag in his career.
When a TMZ reporter asked Crews what he thought about 50’s crude Instagram post, Crews said he loves 50 and listens to his music when he works out. The reporter then asked him what does he say to people who believe it’s not possible for someone as big as Crews to be sexually assaulted. “I proved that size doesn’t matter when it comes to sexual assault,” said Crews.
Any suggestion that men can’t be sexually assaulted by men or even women is a glaring example of toxic masculinity at its worst. Since most mouth-breathing humans generally agree that sexual assault is not funny, perhaps 50 should’ve thought his dumb shit through a bit better.
If you truly care about the wellbeing of Black men and boys as much as you say you do this shouldn’t stop at murders. This should extend to taking men who are brave enough to come out speak about their experiences of sexual abuse/assault/harassment seriously. Don’t be that guy.
— Richie Brave ?????? (@RichieBrave) June 26, 2018
You know what would be funny, though…? Crews and 50 Cent locked in a room together, having a bare-knuckle brawl to the death. Pretty sure Fif wouldn’t be laughing after that.
Dustin J. Seibert is a native Detroiter living in Chicago. Miraculously, people have paid him to be aggressively light-skinned via a computer keyboard for nearly two decades. He loves his own mama slightly more than he loves music and exercises every day only so his French fry intake doesn’t catch up to him. Find him at his own site, wafflecolored.com.
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