50 Cent Tells Bankruptcy Court Piles of Cash in Photos Were Fake
By JONAH BROMWICH MARCH Ten, two thousand sixteen
A judge in Connecticut has asked the rapper fifty Cent, who filed for bankruptcy protection last year, to explain Instagram photos showcasing him posing next to or near large piles of cash, including one picture in which bills are arranged into letters spelling out the word “Broke.”
The rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, filed in July, days after a jury ordered him to pay $Five million to a woman who accused him of posting a hook-up gauze of her online. (He was eventually ordered to pay her an extra $Two million.)
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In a February hearing in bankruptcy court, the judge, Ann Nevins, said that the photos caused her to be “concerned about allegations of nondisclosure and a lack of transparency.”
But Mr. Jackson claimed in a court filing that the cash in his Instagram pictures was “prop money.”
“Just because I am photographed in or next to a certain vehicle, wearing an article of clothing, holding a product, sitting next to what emerges to be large sums of money or modeling expensive chunks of jewelry does not meant that I own everything in those photos,” he wrote.
A photo posted by fifty Cent (@50cent) on Oct 14, two thousand fifteen at Three:17am PDT
The Instagram posts were brought to the court’s attention by Mr. Jackson’s creditors, who said in a court document that the pictures were, “at a minimum, openly contemptuous” of the bankruptcy process.
The case represents a clash inbetween the opulent lifestyle that many hip-hop artists promote in their music, movies and public personas, and the staid reality of Chapter eleven court proceedings.
Social media has become a notable instrument of hip-hop culture and often functions as an extension of an artist’s public photo, an extra-musical companion meant to lend credence to the boasts of wealth and masculinity promoted in the songs.
Rap feuds, which used to be carried out in song, now often migrate to platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Mr. Jackson has used his Instagram account to taunt the Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill, in inbetween posting pictures that appeared to showcase off his assets, like one of his refrigerator packed with cash.
Mr. Jackson, who liked enormous commercial success with his music when he very first emerged on the scene, appeared to strike gold with various product and merchandising deals over the years. Notably, after he endorsed Glacéau’s grape-flavored line of vitamin water, he became a shareholder of the Queens manufacturer. His investment turned into a windfall after Coca-Cola bought Glacéau in two thousand seven for $Four.1 billion.
But more recently, failed business ventures and several lawsuits that resulted in penalties of more than $25 million against Mr. Jackson caused him to re-evaluate his financial situation and file for bankruptcy.
Mr. Jackson gestured in his own court filings at the skinny line inbetween persona and reality, stating that “the separation inbetween ‘50 Cent’ and Curtis Jackson is virtually unlikely to maintain.”
“Since the explosion of social media, I have maintained a strong social media presence that is consistent with the public persona of ‘50 Cent,’ ” he added.
On Wednesday, Mr. Jackson’s lawyers disclosed in court that they and the creditors who hold the vast majority of Mr. Jackson’s debt have come to an agreement.
If the hearing left Mr. Jackson feeling chastened, he certainly did not display it on social media. Late in the afternoon, he posted a fresh picture of himself with stacks of cash in his waistband to Twitter and Instagram.
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