There might be no greater a symbol of how far we’ve come as a society than the evolution of 50 Cent’s relationship with the gay community. After all, this is a guy who back in 2004 was telling Playboy “I ain’t into faggots…I don’t like gay people around me, because I’m not comfortable with what their thoughts are,” and even as recently as 2010 was joking about shooting up a gay wedding after getting dissed by Perez Hilton.
But above all else, 50 is a businessman, and—perhaps humbled by his own lack of commercial success recently—he’s smart enough to know that being anti-gay in 2012 isn’t worth the bad PR or hurt record sales anymore. It’s not quite as sentimental as 50 making a gay best friend and learning intrinsically that there’s nothing wrong with being gay, but it’s a form of progress (via frontrunning) just the same.
Anyway, MTV asked 50 about his thoughts on Frank Ocean after his “coming out” letter, and 50 unsurprisingly says he’s cool with it, and that “anyone that has an issue with Frank Ocean is an idiot.” He mentions Ocean’s artistic talent (and “Novacane” especially, which he’d earlier shouted out as a favorite), cites Luther Vandross and Kenny Greene as other musical icons of alternative sexuality, and concludes “Obama is for same-sex marriage…if the president is saying that, then who am I to go the other way?”
It’s pure 50, really. Not only is he going with the prevailing tide at the moment, but you get the sense that he really respects Ocean not for his artistic or personal bravery, but for making his revelation so soon before releasing his album. “You can call it brave…or you can call it marketing,” 50 said to MTV. “Because it was intentional; it wasn’t an accident.” Game recognize game on that one, we suppose.
At this rate, don’t be surprised if Curtis starts hinting at a fake gay relationship of his own before his next album comes out. Forget politics, sexual or otherwise—money will be got by 50 Cent one way or the other.
The post Recovering Homophobe Rapper Issues Statement of Support For Frank Ocean appeared first on Popdust.
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