50 Cent has continued to weigh in on fellow rapper-turned-businessman Jay-Z's lawsuit woes, as he fights rape allegations.
On Monday, 50 Cent, whose given name is Curtis Jackson III, teased a clip of a new interview with comedian Andrew Schulz, with whom he spoke about his penchant for discussing his fellow celebrities.
"I've been the crazy guy for a long time," 50 Cent said in the clip, adding that people have often told him he's a "hater."
However, when it came to seriously discussing the allegations leveled against Jay-Z, 50 Cent said he didn't know where he stood on the matter.
"I have this thing where I'm conflicted when it takes you takes you 20 years to remember something happened to you," he said, referring to the accuser.
Sharing the clip on X, formerly Twitter, 50 Cent wrote: "Man if this bothers you, you should do something," adding that he's "outside it's really not a problem!"
Early on in their careers, 50 Cent and Jay-Z, whose given name is Shawn Carter, made headlines when they took lyrical swipes at one another.
On his seminal single "How to Rob," 50 Cent took jabs at a number of rappers, including Jay-Z, whose album sales, he rapped, gave him "something to live for." Jay-Z memorably responded in turn. On his song "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)," he rapped: "I'm about a dollar, what the f*** is 50 cents?"
Despite trading jabs, the two co-headlined the Rock the Mic tour in 2003 and collaborated on the 2007 track "I Get Money (Forbes 1, 2, 3 Remix)," alongside music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
However, the swipes continued. In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, 50 Cent said that Jay-Z "thinks he's f****** Jesus." In the years that followed, 50 Cent continued to publicly weigh in on everything from Jay-Z's albums to his Grammy wins.
Over the years, 50 Cent has garnered a reputation for weighing in on other celebrities, most notably the legal issues surrounding Combs. As Combs remains behind bars awaiting trial on allegations of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, 50 Cent has trolled him on numerous occasions. Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
It was reported in September that 50 Cent is producing a docuseries about Combs and the crimes he has been accused of carrying out.
In a civil suit filed in a New York federal court on December 8, an anonymous plaintiff alleged that she was raped at the age of 13 while attending an afterparty following the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City on September 7, 2000.
The accuser originally filed the suit in October, claiming that she was sexually assaulted by beleaguered music mogul Combs, but refiled it this month to name Jay-Z as the celebrity who allegedly raped her.
Jay-Z and Combs have vehemently denied the allegations. After the accuser -- who is represented by Texas trial attorney Tony Buzbee -- acknowledged in a recent interview with NBC that there are some inconsistencies in her recall of the alleged events, Jay-Z's legal team sought to dismiss the case.
"It is stunning that a lawyer would not only file such a serious complaint without proper vetting, but would make things worse by further peddling this false story in the press," Alex Spiro, an attorney for Jay-Z, said in a statement shared with Newsweek on December 13. "We are asking the Court to dismiss this frivolous case today, and will take up the matter of additional discipline for Mr. Buzbee and all the lawyers that filed the complaint."
Soon after the allegations made headlines, 50 Cent weighed in with a social media post. Taking to Instagram and X, the musician shared a popular meme from his cameo in classic HBO show Entourage that shows him staring in bewilderment while driving.
"Ok I don't know what's going on, but are we gonna still have the Super Bowl... I'm just asking for a friend!" 50 Cent captioned the image, referring to Jay-Z's company Roc Nation co-producing the hugely popular Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Later, in an interview with radio personality Big Boy, 50 Cent explained the reasons behind his social media post. "I'm asking for Kendrick [Lamar]. I'm just trying to figure out if we're still doing everything," he said, before opining that the NFL "will fall back... The NFL, they won't necessarily [want to] be associated with that."
Stepping out in face of the allegations, Jay-Z joined his wife, Beyoncé, at the Los Angeles premiere of Disney's Mufasa: The Lion King on December 9. The couple's 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, was also in attendance, as was Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles.
Following the event, 50 Cent quipped in a since-deleted social media comment that Jay-Z learned of the allegations that had been leveled against him and reacted by saying, "everybody get dressed we going to see Mufasa LOL."
In an impassioned statement shared as the allegations were made public, Jay-Z shared in a statement: "My only heartbreak is for my family. My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence."
In his recent interview with Big Boy, 50 Cent said of Jay-Z: "I hope things are alright for him internally... I mean at the crib. Because in the statement they mentioned his daughter being old enough to [read the allegations]."
Jay-Z's legal team is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. Jay-Z argued in his motion to dismiss that he was the target of an "extortionate campaign" designed to pressure him into paying millions, regardless of the truth.
Additionally, Jay-Z's lawyer Spiro recently filed a motion to expedite the case.
"For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Carter is entirely innocent. This is a shakedown," Spiro wrote. "He is not mentioned, referenced, or implicated in any way in the criminal investigation of Mr. Combs. He is neither a target nor a person of interest in that investigation.
"We are available at the Court's earliest convince to provide additional briefing or to appear for a hearing on this matter."