Fans of rapper and television boss Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson were pleasantly surprised after the “Power” creator made a surprise musical appearance during the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime show Sunday evening with a performance of his 2003 breakout hit “In Da Club.”
However, the legendary performance, which paid homage to the song’s music video, was overshadowed by critics who took to their platforms to body shame the 46-year-old.
“50 Cent does a lot of bullying women on IG to show up looking like that,” comedian Rae Sanni commented, seemingly calling out Fif’s various beefs with other celebrities, including his most recent target, Madonna.
The Twitter account for retired NFL player Dick Butkus slipped in a twofer, writing, “50 cent looked like he was hit by inflation.” However, Fif’s fans would not permit the criticisms to go on for too long before they came to the “Many Men” emcee’s defense, including one Twitter user who fired back at Butkus, writing, “More fit than 85% of this country, including most/all of the trolls that think this is funny.”
Another person defending 50 Cent highlighted the rapper’s strength despite his larger appearance. “I know we all wanna haha on 50 Cent Bc he’s a bigger guy now but that man walked up, pulled himself upside down like we used to on the monkey bars and held his weight up until it was time to start rappin,” wrote one user. “My goodness.”
Still, Fif didn’t appear to be too flustered over the negative commentary and even joined in on some of the jokes. That night, following the epic performance that saw Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar all take the stage, Fif took to his social media accounts, where he shared several posts poking fun at his performance, including viral “kid with veins” meme turned upside down, with the caption reading “50 waitin.”
The New York native quipped, “Waiting for @SnoopDogg and @drdre like ok who’s idea was it for me to be upside down again?” referencing the memorable music video.
Additionally, the rapper shared a memo with a request to see all the performers possibly go on tour together. The note was addressed to “Mr. Dre, Mrs. Blige, Mr. Dogg, Mr. Shady.” However, when Fif’s name came up, it was flipped upside down. “Signed a bunch of moms icing their backs,” the post concluded.
More Stories from Our Partners:
