50 Cent’s alleged bankruptcy and his tendency to post Instagram photos in which he’s posed with piles of cash didn’t sit too well with the Connecticut judge deciding on what to do about 50 Cent’s money (or lack thereof). The judge, reports the New York Times , asked 50 Cent to explain images like this:
and:
50 Cent — who filed for bankruptcy immediately following an order for him to pay $5 million (eventually reduced to $2 million) to a woman who’d accused him of sharing a sex tape with her on the Internet — wrote to the judge, asserting that the cash in the photos 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 appears to be large sums of money or modeling expensive pieces of jewelry does not meant that I own everything in those photos.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a good deal of the posts, 50 Cent claimed, were merely promotional efforts for Effen Vodka and his song, “Too Rich.” The judge, it seems, clearly took the braggadocio of rap promotion rather literally (in the video for “Too Rich” song, 50 Cent likewise poses with cash that no one would assume was real… because it’s in a video); creditors, like a headphone company he supposedly owes $18 million, also took issue with his social media posts.
This all led 50 Cent aka Curtis Jackson to have to assert that “the separation between ‘50 Cent’ and Curtis Jackson is virtually impossible 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.’ ”
The Guardian reports that an image of an unfinished property the rapper had posted on Instagram, saying “my crib is almost finished in Africa” also got explained in the 50 Cent’s writing to the judge. He said in court papers that there is no house in Africa:
I do not own, nor have I ever owned, any real property in Africa. If I did own any property in Africa or any other real properties, I would have disclosed them as required by the Bankruptcy Code.