Over the weekend, a gloating 50 Cent took to Instagram to re-caption a still-popular meme which will have gone over fans’ heads. The post, meant to dunk on his rap rival Jay-Z, is a picture of fifty from his cameo on HBO’s Entourage, and it’s captioned: “Okay I don’t know what’s occurring, but are we gonna still have the Super Bowl. 😟I’m just asking for a friend!”
For those who don’t get the gag, don’t worry, you’re not out of touch. The punchline here relies on you knowing that Jay-Z, who on Sunday was named in a civil suit accusing him and Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping a 13-year-old girl, runs the entertainment company Roc Nation, which has been producing the Super Bowl Halftime Show for the past five years. 50 Cent can also be producing an investigative docuseries on Diddy for Netflix. (A rep for 50 Cent didn’t return The Hollywood Reporter‘s message on Monday in search of further comment on his post.)
50 Cent’s social media display of schadenfreude implies a priority — imaginary or anticipated — that the media attention surrounding the allegations may spill over into Roc Nation’s successful partnership with the National Football League. Jay-Z, who serves as executive producer of the Super Bowl halftime show, and his company, transformed the massive game’s musical interlude from a rock and country affair to feature a various array of current artists, starting in 2020. Aligning with Apple in 2023, the production was elevated much more, leading to record audience numbers for recent performances featuring Usher (2024) and Rihanna (2023).
The value tag for these stadium-sized performances is, after all, in the various hundreds of thousands of dollars — and that’s with the featured artist performing totally free. The ad revenue for the 12-to-15-minute halftime show alone could reach eight figures, so, a tenet for a company just like the NFL and its broadcast partner is to keep away from controversy, especially post-Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” fiasco.
So how could Jay-Z, the business, and Shawn Carter, the person, be impacted vis-a-vis Super Bowl LIX, scheduled for Feb. 9 in Latest Orleans with Kendrick Lamar helming halftime? A response to the civil suit posted to Roc Nation’s X (formerly Twitter) account would be the very words that make affiliation questionable within the court of public opinion. Even when the statement, written from the perspective of a father and with unapologetic conviction within the voice of Hov, received praise for its construction.
In it are claims that attorney Tony Buzbee, who’s representing the feminine Jane Doe, was attempting to blackmail the rap mogul by filing the suit for such a “heinous” crime. “What he had calculated was the character of those allegations and the general public scrutiny would make me wish to settle,” the page-long post reads. “No sir, it had the alternative effect! It made me want to show you for the fraud you’re in a VERY public fashion. So no, I won’t offer you ONE RED PENNY!! These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal criticism, not a civil one!! Whomever [sic] would commit such against the law against a minor must be locked away, would you not agree? These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.”
Why Carter posted the unsigned note to the Roc Nation X account and never his own X account is unclear; while Carter’s X account has been relatively dormant since 2018, it’s still alive and has 2.9 million followers (THR reached out to the rapper’s rep and Roc Nation for comment but received no reply). Yet the proven fact that the rap mogul’s response was delivered through Roc Nation is why the Super Bowl contract may come into play — in one other circumstance, wouldn’t Apple, the NFL and Fox attempt to distance themselves from a business partner accused of an unforgivable sexual assault?
In response to the filing, Carter, through his attorney Alex Spiro (who represented Alec Baldwin within the Rust case, leading to it being dismissed with prejudice), has demanded the accuser reveal her identity, as is customary for a civil case brought in Federal court. A criminal claim can’t be filed in Latest York resulting from the statute of limitations for her age and the date of the alleged incident.
Carter is already suing Buzbee, filing a suit after receiving a letter from him that was interpreted as an extortion attempt. An attorney representing Carter also wrote a follow-up message denying the rape allegation formally: “For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Carter is entirely innocent. This can be a shakedown. He isn’t mentioned, referenced, or implicated in any way within the criminal investigation of Mr. Combs. He’s neither a goal nor an individual of interest in that investigation,” it reads.
If successful in his defense within the civil case, Carter could go on to say tortious interference, which is when a 3rd party interferes with a business contract or relationship, resulting in financial harm.
Buzbee has his own interpretation of the road to legal bedlam, writing on Instagram that there was a “coordinated and aggressive effort” against him that has included “filing frivolous cases against me and my law firm, defaming me with outrageous assertions to anyone who will listen, and having mysterious people follow me and my family.” Buzbee added, “People will see through this effort to discredit me and my clients and the reality shall be revealed. I also won’t allow anyone to scare my clients into silence.” THR reached out to Buzbee via his law firm on Tuesday but didn’t immediately hear back.
As this all unfolds in court, the individuals are talking. One X user posted, “Jay Z must be faraway from any seat with the @NFL,” while one other wrote, “Jay Z should lose his job with the @NFL which implies all his decisions must be reversed so no Kendrick Super Bowl.”
Roc Nation and the NFL initially inked a five-year contract in 2019; the deal was renewed in October. Carter’s company has been the NFL’s Live Music Entertainment Strategist as a component of the NFL’s Encourage Change Initiative. Upon the renewal, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the working relationship with Roc Nation was “mutually positive.”
Whether the NFL will take motion to distance itself from Jay-Z during its biggest and most lucrative game of the yr stays to be seen; THR reached out to a league representative on Tuesday to inquire about any possible changes to the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show but didn’t immediately hear back.
Meanwhile, 50 Cent continues to weigh in on the developing drama, appearing in an interview posted to BigBoy TV on Monday that showed a bit of sympathy for Carter and his family.
“They’ll fall back… the NFL, they won’t necessarily be associated to that,” Jackson said. “I just hope things are alright for him internally, on the crib. It isn’t what you probably did. It’s what they said you probably did. The damage is already done by the allegation itself.”
