Curtis James Jackson III, otherwise known as the rapper 50 Cent, is now denying website TMZ’s report earlier this year that he had made about eight million dollars, earned in the way of bitcoins which he had forgotten about. When Jackson released his latest album called ”Animal Ambition”, he allowed fans to use bitcoin to purchase them with. The bitcoins were supposed to have laid dormant and forgotten until recently, when reports of the huge spike in bitcoin worth. The forgotten bitcoins were reported to have made Jackson a huge payoff, multiplying his initial share exponentially. In fact, the rapper was even quoted as having said that he was proud of himself, but that ”keeping it real” he had forgot about the cryptocurrency and that [eight million] wasn’t bad for a kid from south side. But, apparently, now it turns out 50 Cent never owned any bitcoin?
Jackson is a well-known American rapper, in addition to being an actor, investor, and businessman. He was born in a borough of Queens in a South Jamaican neighborhood where he took advantage of the crack epidemic of the 1980s, beginning to sell drugs at twelve years old. Later he pursued his musical/rap career, producing an album for Columbia Records in 2000 which was never released. Days before he planned to release it, he was shot nine times. However, he survived and came back to the rap game in 2002, when he was discovered by Eminem. Jackson was subsequently signed to Shady Records, making 50 Cent famous.
Fast forward to present day, when Jackson is in court filing for bankruptcy. Once they got word of his alleged windfall, the court wanted an investigation. That’s when the bitcoin fortune story turned into a fairy tale when 50 Cent admitted not only did he not make eight million dollars in surprise money from forgotten bitcoin payments, but he’d never even had a bitcoin account, having never received a bitcoin payment directly in his life.
Apparently, even though he allowed fans to pay for ”Animal Ambition” with bitcoins, a third-party company converted the cryptocurrency to cold hard cash before it ever reached Mr. Jackson. He denied media reports which had falsely accused him of not reporting this earned income to the court. In fact, he went on the confirm, that to the best of his knowledge, neither he or any of his companies had even received a single bitcoin from 2014 to now. He also instructed financial advisors to thoroughly research the situation, ensuring he’d never collected any bitcoins at all.
Pretty much, Jackson sat back, and allowed rumors to circulate saying he’d had about seven hundred bitcoins, which he had forgotten all about until the recent spike in their financial worth, when he not only realized he had some, but that they had turned a tidy profit, now being worth about eight million dollars, all the while knowing he’d never had a bitcoin or an account. His explanation for going along with it? He says that generally speaking, if press/media attention is not irreversibly damaging to his brand or image, he doesn’t feel the need to correct the report. He says this is especially true when said report is favorable to his brand or image, even when it’s based on misinformation, a misunderstanding, or outright lies.
Wow. So, if you’re going to lie about 50 Cent, make it good enough, and he’ll go along with it! I guess it’s true what they say, any press is good press/no press is bad press, whichever way you want to say it. Some people will take whatever they can get and it seems Jackson is one of them.
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