Amid an outpouring of social media tributes for the 20th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks on Saturday, rapper 50 Cent rang in the solemn day with a shout-out for his cognac and champagne.
The 46-year-old rapper (born Curtis James Jackson III) posted a stark, black and white photo of the second hijacked plane heading for the South Tower, with the hashtags #bransoncognac #lecheminduroi.
‘This day will be forever remembered, to those who lost loved ones my condolences, he wrote.
The social media backlash for the ‘tacky’ stunt was swift.
‘Did you seriously f***ing hashtag your liquor on a 9/11 post?!?!’ one Twitter user commented.
‘When you want a brandy that tastes like the ashes of 3000 dead Americans, choose Branson Cognac,’ @GramsciGordon joked.
The backlash comes just days after the rapper used the death of The Wire actor Michael K. Williams to promote his TV show Power Book III: Raising Kanan and his liquor brands Branson Cognac and Le Chemin Duroi.
Along with a news article which stated that Williams died from fentanyl, 50 Cent wrote: ‘Damn if you didn’t see Raising Kanan check it out that fentanyl is no joke, 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing the clientele,’ followed by several hashtags for his brands.
50 Cent (born Curtis James Jackson III) posted a stark, black and white photo of the second hijacked plane heading for the South Tower, with the hashtags #bransoncognac #lecheminduroi
50 Cent’s tone-deafness on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks came through with his hashtags: ‘This day will be forever remembered, to those who lost loved ones my condolences. #bransoncognac #lecheminduroi’
In the latest social media faux pas, 50 Cent has come under heavy criticism for using a national tragedy as a marketing ploy
Users took to the comments section to call the ‘In Da Club’ artist’s class and morality into question, and to tear into the ideals of capitalism
In the latest social media faux pas, 50 Cent has come under heavy criticism for using a national tragedy as a marketing ploy.
‘Every time I see that 2nd plane hit I’ll always remember to have a cognac with champagne,’ said @EatTom01.
‘My thoughts and prayers are with the little bottles of cognac and champagne that were aboard #AA11 and #AA77 and #UA175 and #UA93 today… #BransonCognac,’ quipped another user.
‘The fact that 50 cent tagged a champagne and a cognac for a 9/11 post will remain the wildest thing I’ve seen so far in my life,’ wrote @yigit_selimoglu.
‘This is the most American tweet I’ve ever seen,’ a user wrote.
’50 Cent’s promotional campaign for his line of cognac has included appearing at a HyVee in South Dakota and this 9/11 tweet,’ wrote @vlickcars. ‘Incredible stuff.’
50 has yet to remove or address the tweet as of 6pm on September 12, and Keith Naisbitt, the rapper’s agent could not be reached for comment at press time.
50 has yet to remove or address the tweet as of 6 pm on September 12
’50 Cent’s promotional campaign for his line of cognac has included appearing at a HyVee in South Dakota and this 9/11 tweet,’ commented @vlickcars. ‘Incredible stuff.’ Pictured is an August 14 post from the artist about the event
Keith Naisbitt, 50 Cent’s agent, could not be reached at press time for comment
On both Twitter and Instagram, the 46-year-old rapper and TV executive (born Curtis James Jackson III) posted a stark, black and white photo of the second of two hijacked planes heading for the South Tower as smoke plumed from its counterpart
‘When you want a brandy that tastes like the ashes of 3000 dead Americans, choose Branson Cognac,’ wrote @GramsciGordon
‘Wow… using tragedy to market your cognac,’ wrote one user in response to Fiddy’s post on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks
Less than a week ago on September 7, the artist aggravated an earlier swarm of Twitter commenters when he exploited the death of Williams in a Twitter post.
To this post, the rapper added hashtags for Branson Cognac, Le Chemin Duroi and his liquor delivery service Bottle Rover which he recently did a commercial for.
The actor ultimately deleted that post after several fans called him out on Instagram, before putting up another post that was not received well by fans.
He posted a screengrab of an article that reveals the ‘feud’ between him and Williams started after the actor showed his support for James ‘Jimmy Henchman’ Rosemond, who was found guilty of hiring a hitman to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 Lowell “Lodi Mack” Fletcher, a friend of 50’s.
After Williams supported Rosemond in 2018, 50 posted photos of him in gay 𝓈ℯ𝓍 scenes from The Wire, which he captioned, ‘LOL Old Omar how much they pay you to play a punk PUNK. Mind your business da f **k wrong wit you.’
50 captioned his now-deleted post on Monday, ‘don’t ever try to understand me i’m different. I don’t do all the fake love s**t.’
Spelling: ‘R.I.P.’ Micheal K. Williams,’ he said, spelling the actor’s first name wrong, while adding hashtags for Branson Cognac, Le Chemin Duroi and his liquor delivery service Bottle Rover which he recently did a commercial for
Lame: ‘Damn if you didn’t see Raising Kanan check it out that fentanyl is no joke, 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing the clientele,’ he began
Michael’s death: 50 Cent (born Curtis James Jackson III) ultimately deleted both posts about Michael K. Williams, the first of which where he tried to use the actor’s death to promote his show Power Book III: Raising Kanan and his liquor brands Branson Cognac and Le Chemin Duroi
Under fire: While mourners throughout the country commemorated the 20th anniversary of 9/11, rapper 50 Cent came under fire for promoting his brands in an insensitive Twitter post. On September 7 he attracted attention for posting a New York Post article detailing the overdose death of Michael K. Williams, with whom he had a feud, along with hashtags for his brands
Article: 50 Cent posted a screengrab on September 7 of an article that reveals the ‘feud’ between him and Williams started after the actor showed his support for James ‘Jimmy Henchman’ Rosemond, who was found guilty of hiring a hitman to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 Lowell “Lodi Mack” Fletcher, a friend of 50’s
That post was also ultimately deleted, as fans started bashing him online, posting screengrabs of his deleted Instagram posts.
Perez Hilton tweeted, ‘ 50 Cent really used the suspected fatal overdose of Michael K. Williams to promote his cognac, champagne and alcohol delivery service – respectively in the hashtags,’ along with the facepalm emojis
‘@50Cent should go to jail for that post,’ said Twitter user @TheRicoSuave_.
Another Twitter user, @CurtisBashar, said, ’50 Cent is my favourite rapper ever, but this is disrespectful as hell and corny, he is a bi*** for that, can’t defend the n***a no mo, RIP Michael Williams.’
Twitter user @Cierra_cii shared a deleted post from 50 Cent’s official Facebook page where he said, ‘New caption alert hey jimmy ya man od’d’ with a laughing emoji.
’50 Cent is honestly disgusting and disrespectful as hell for this post smh. So lame for this… Sending my condolences to the family of Michael K. Williams.’
Twitter user @Southside_Gunn referenced 50 getting shot in the past, stating, ‘Everyday 50 Cent proves why he deserved to get shot 9 times…’
@SportzStewCom added, ’50 Cent says a lot of dumb s**t but this is the dumbest. Ever. Using Michael K. Williams’ death to promote your own show is so insensitive and stupid… this wasn’t about “bringing awareness” smh.’
@ChandlerWorton added, ’50 Cent is so f***ing weird man’
@ReadtheBioNgga added, ‘Everyday 50 Cent reminds y’all why Somebody emptied the clip on him. RIP Michael K. Williams.’
@thoughtfulbae said, ‘Idc what anyone says, using someone’s tragic & untimely death to promote your own show with an insensitive a** caption is VILE. 50 Cent has always been ignorant, but this is crossing the line.’