50 Cent Addresses Kanye’s Presidential Hopes: ‘The New Thing Is to Run a Diversion and Distract People’

50 Cent doesn’t like to mince words, especially when it comes to criticizing other rappers. During an interview with Billboard, the Queens native set his next target on Kanye West, who recently announced his intent to launch a 2020 presidential campaign. 

During the interview, 50 mocks 'Ye, saying, “I'm going to contemplate running myself. I'm going to run to create a diversion for someone else.” 

He then goes on to directly question Kanye’s decision to run, following a $2 million federal loan the rapper received through the Paycheck Protection Program for his Yeezy brand. "The new thing is to run to create a diversion and distract people,” 50 says. “Why would you run against someone who just gave you $2 million?"

50 is also critical of Kanye’s move to relinquish his support from Donald Trump. Rather than praising the decision, he notes that it comes at a time when West didn’t have any other choice, due to the current “climate” surrounding racial police violence. “How would you keep it without creating a storm of sh*t for yourself?" he asks.

However, 50 goes on to say that he’s learned a lot from No. 45 about never having to apologize. One may be hard-pressed to find evidence of 50 being apologetic prior to Trump’s 2016 win, but in this context he’s referring to the recent backlash he received from “angry black women” critical of his comments on Young Money Radio about exotic women. He continues to double-down on those statements, tiptoeing around the concept of reverse-racism, before ultimately deciding he no longer needs to address the situation.