Source: Monica Schipper/Arturo Holmes/Getty.
Infamous Hollywood troll 50 Cent has set his sights on another former collaborator: Power creator Courtney Kemp, whom he’s accusing of taking too much credit for the hit STARZ series while making messy allegations about her personal life.
During an interview with Variety, published Oct. 17, the rapper and star of the upcoming Street Fighter film adaptation was asked whether he’d ever clashed with someone in Hollywood so badly that he’d never work with them again. Kemp’s name was apparently the first to come to mind, and he later escalated the drama with an eyebrow-raising Instagram accusation.
50 Cent Variety Interview: Here’s why 50 Cent won’t work with Courtney Kemp “ever again.”
50 Cent, who co-produced the hit Starz crime drama alongside Kemp after she launched the series in 2014, didn’t mince words, admitting he didn’t “look forward to working with her ever again.”
While he stopped short of calling Kemp “a bad person,” he claimed the success of Power “got out of control for her.”
Reflecting on their working relationship, the rapper alleged that Kemp began taking too much personal credit for the show’s success.
“After the success of Power, she would go, ‘I wrote it.’ Well, you did write it, but I uploaded everything that you wrote, and we got a ‘no’ from everybody before we got a ‘yes,’ and I wrote songs that captured, at its nucleus, each one of the leads that we had and that emotionally captured energy for scenes,” he explained to Variety.
When asked whether he felt Kemp had downplayed his contributions to the franchise, 50 Cent made his position clear.
“I think she forgot.”
The rapper went on to argue that Starz initially underestimated the value of Power and its ability to retain subscribers. According to 50 Cent, the network saw a 40% decline in subscribers at one point, which he viewed as evidence of a larger programming problem: audiences had little incentive to maintain their subscriptions between seasons.
His solution? Expand Power into an entire television universe. Although he claimed the network initially resisted the idea, he said the subscriber losses eventually forced executives to reconsider.
“I pitched them the Power universe. They didn’t want the Power universe; I forced the Power universe on them when they saw the forty percent decrease. It opened the idea up to them of, ‘Oh, let’s put some more of it on so we can force the subscribers to stay.’ And it put me in a different position where they were like, ‘Oh… He can f–k us up and turn this sh*t off.’”
50 Cent suggested that the experience strengthened his negotiating position, as Starz came to recognize the franchise’s importance to its business, alongside his own value. Looking back, he appeared to believe that Kemp failed to fully appreciate the role he played in the show’s success.
The rapper also took issue with Kemp’s alleged approach to managing the franchise, claiming she attempted to exert too much control over the show and network. The hip-hop mogul alleged that she was reluctant to develop Power Book III: Raising Kanan because its ending was already established.
He added:
“There was all kinds of weird sh*t going on, but it got to a point where Courtney was trying to run the entire network through one show. She also said she didn’t want to do Raising Kanan because she didn’t want to tell a story where they already know the ending. Half the sh*t she was saying just didn’t make sense. I told her, ‘This is the late-‘80s going into the ‘90s, and that was the golden era for the drug trade.’ Sascha [Penn] was able to make a masterpiece out of it that ran for five seasons.”
50 Cent Big Rich Clown-ly Accused The Power Creator Of Doing THIS Behind The Scenes
But the Variety interview was only the beginning.
On Oct. 18, one day after the interview was published, 50 Cent took his grievances to Instagram, where he escalated the feud with a more explosive allegation about Kemp’s alleged conduct behind the scenes.
“Wow Variety ask[ed] me who I wasn’t looking forward to working with again so I said Courtney, I thought I was being nice I didn’t even mention her sleeping with cast and crew members,” the Big Rich Clown penned boldly.
Courtney Kemp has since rightfully spoken out to defend herself.
See her response on the flip.
Source: Earl Gibson / Darius L. CarterCourtney Kemp Called The Rapper’s Claims Unfounded, Say She’s ‘Completely Moved On’
Kemp subsequently responded to 50 Cent’s remarks in a statement to Variety, disputing his characterization of their professional relationship and pushing back against his claims.
“While 50’s recollection of budgets and production requirements is uninformed, as he was rarely in a budget meeting, I have never once understated his importance in the genesis of ‘Power.’ While he did not write nor create the series, he was a large part of its birth,” she said. “That said, I am completely bewildered by his need to mention me in interviews or podcasts. I have completely moved on in my career, and I hope that the imminent success of ‘Street Fighter’ allows him to do the same.”
So, is this simply a case of two former collaborators who no longer see eye to eye, or is 50 Cent determined to have the last word? We’ll just have to wait and see.
What do you think about 50 Cent’s latest comments about Courtney Kemp? Sound off with your thoughts!
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