50 Cent blames ‘Empire’s ratings fall on too much ‘gay stuff’
By Will Stroude
50 Cent has come under fire after re-sharing a post on Instagram blaming Empire‘s ratings dip on the show’s gay storylines.
The US rapper and actor – who has been criticised for making violent homophobic remarks in the past – shared the picture and accompanying caption after the Fox musical drama shed 2.3 million viewers between its first and second episodes of season two, dropping from 16 million viewers to 13.7 million.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, the rapper – real name Curtis Jackson III – shared a screengrab of a post that claimed Lee Daniels’ show about a family’s battle to control a hip-hop record label lost viewers because the audience “could not take the extra gay stuff or celebrity stuff.”
The season 2 premiere had prominent featured gay singer-songwriter Jamal (played by Jussie Smollett) and his relationship with ex-boyfriend Michael. Smollett himself came out publicly earlier this year, telling Ellen DeGeneres that “there’s never been a closet that I’ve been in”.
50 Cent has come under fire in the past after threatening to “shoot up” a gay wedding during a spat with gossip blogger Perez Hilton and saying that men who don’t “eat p***y” should kill themselves. He seemingly sought to make amends with the LGBT community last year however, after performing for Cyndi Lauper’s annual charity concert which supports LGBT homeless youth.
The Candy Shop rapper has been gunning for the Fox show since it first started airing last year, after claiming that its promotional material had been ripped off from his own gangster drama Power on the Starz channel.
Empire star Taraja P. Henson, who stars as the show’s resident uber-bitch Cookie Lyon, responded to the criticism by declaring she pays attention “to dollars not cents” – some advice we’ll be taking in light of this most recent outburst.
Meanwhile, we recently rounded-up Cookie’s most brilliantly cutting comments from season one of the musical drama – click here to get your daily dose of sass now.
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