When 50 Cent shared two teaser clips of “Power” on Jan. 20, it seemingly caused a whole bunch of drama for the actor Michael Rainey Jr., who plays Tariq on the show.
The clips that 50 released show Tariq being one of the people who shoots his father James “Ghost” St. Patrick, played by Omari Hardwick. The other shows Naturi Naughton, who plays Tariq’s mother, pulling the trigger.
But later the G-Unit rapper, who’s an executive producer on the show, explained that creator Courtney Kemp wanted to create multiple endings in case the true ending got leaked.
Then on Wednesday, Jan. 22, Rainey Jr. took to Instagram and said he received a bunch of direct messages that were anything but friendly.
“Me going through my dms tryna figure out why I have 326 death threat messages 🤨🤨,” he wrote next to a photo of himself looking baffled.
La La Anthony, who played Lakeisha Grant on the show, responded with five facepalm emojis in the comments, while Naughton also posted two facepalm emojis and included two laughing ones on top of that.
A lot of Rainey Jr.’s fans also weighed in, and many said they know exactly why the 19-year-old is getting a bunch of death threats.
“You know why,” one person wrote on Instagram but didn’t provide an answer.
“Just means that you are a great actor,” wrote someone else. “These fools think that you are really Tariq. And yes Tariq should die. Sorry.”
“This is how you know you played a great part in the show bc we HATE YOU ! 😂,” wrote someone else.
“Mr Rainey, you’re doing a fantastic acting job!! Not many of us care for your character,” a third person chimed in.
Plus, another one of the teen’s Instagram followers wrote, “That’s some good acting sir 😂.”
