50 Cent Decided to Be Oprah Winfrey’s Enemy if He Couldn’t be Her Friend
50 Cent has had a few feuds throughout his career. But one of the celebrities he found himself at odds with was media mogul Oprah Winfrey. The source of the feud was Winfrey’s feelings over 50 Cent’s music. And although they’d been feuding for years, they eventually came to a surprising understanding.
50 Cent once opened up about his feud with Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was known to be quite critical with the hip hop genre in the past. There was a period of time when rappers like Ludacris and others rubbed her the wrong way with their content. At one point, the “In Da Club” hitmaker drew criticism from Winfrey as well. This was particularly upsetting to the rapper, who had aspirations of being on Winfrey’s show one day. When Winfrey refused to have him on as a guest, 50 Cent decided to garner her attention a different way.
“She was completely against everything that was in my music,” he said in a 2020 interview with The Guardian. “So she ain’t never going to have me on that show. I’m never going to reach that platform, which is confirmation of you being a huge success. So I just said: OK, if we can’t be friends, then at least let’s be enemies.”
However, eventually 50 Cent and Winfrey would mend fences. Winfrey would even dedicate a segment to the rapper later on, exploring his childhood upbringing. But their opposing views on hip hop might’ve stayed the same.
“They are misogynistic, but the world is not under the same circumstances,” 50 Cent said about his music. “Are you going to tell a painter what to paint? I’m an artist. Why am I limited to what you feel should be said? In film and television, they will show art imitates life. Are you not aware of those situations taking place?”
“The truth is, all things come from your experience,” he added. “Like, I got shot nine times and I wrote music about it. Everyone writes something that can connect in a big way based on a painful moment, so you’re saying we’re not supposed to articulate or write it the way we experienced?”
How Oprah Winfrey understood 50 Cent a little better after becoming an enemy
50 Cent and Winfrey would later make peace with each other partially because of famous television host Gayle King. King was a good friend of Winfrey’s, and eventually confronted the Power creator regarding his behavior. After 50 Cent explained himself, King convinced Winfrey to meet up with the rapper. In his book Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter (via People), 50 Cent shared how both Winfrey and King grew to understand his mentality.
“Before meeting me, they had bought into the 50 Cent persona — that this was someone who got into beefs and drama because he just couldn’t help himself. But when I said ‘at least let me be an enemy,’ they understood that when I got into a beef, it was never driven by emotion. Instead, I was moving off of strategy,” he said.
“If you hate me, you’re more likely to talk about me,” he continued. “If you feel passionately about me in a negative way, at some point you’ll probably say to your friend, ‘Man, I can’t stand 50 Cent.’ Your friend is going to ask you ‘Why?’ and just like that, I’ve become the subject of a conversation. That’s all I’m asking for. Now I’ve got a foot in the door.”
When Winfrey finally invited 50 Cent onto her show, he considered their interview a highlight that felt better than some of his other accomplishments.
“We finally met, and my grandmother and I went on the show,” he said. “That was an amazing moment for me. I had sold a whole heap of records, but it wasn’t until Oprah showed up that my grandmother was like, ‘Boy, you made it.'”
