The nominations for the 2024 NAACP Image Awards are officially out. And 50 Cent isn’t pleased.
Just hours after this year’s nods were announced, Fif took to Instagram and X to express his frustration, disappointment, and confusion over the Power Book III: Raising Kanan snub. The Starz series is a prequel to the critically-acclaimed, fan-beloved drama Power and is loosely based on 50 Cent’s childhood. The hip-hop mogul not only helped develop the show, he also serves as its narrator and executive producer.
50 shed more light on the shutout in a video that captured a portion of a business call.
“You just said, fundamentally, we have to now insist that Starz improve their relationship with the NAACP,” a man could be heard saying through the speaker.
“We don’t want them to have a relationship with the NAACP, I want to have a relationship with the NAACP,” 50 interjected. “’Cause I think that they—I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with them. Like, at this point, you should know that this is the place that you would have to have—how long has Power been the No. 1 show in African American and Latino homes?”
“Yeah, try 10 years, 11 years,” the associate responded.
“Yes. So how the fuck do you not know? How do I know that I need to keep a relationship and they don’t know that?” Fif asked, before highlighting Raising Kanan’s commercial success. “At 98.1 percent! You know what the fuck it would take? This means that I have to be absolutely...at 100 percent, the highest-rated show, for them to acknowledge it.”
Fif has been critical of Starz over the years despite the success of Power and its various spinoffs. He didn’t provide any details on the network's relationship with the NAACP, but shared a screenshot of a Parrot Analytics chart that underscored Raising Kanan’s high demand.
“These are the fvcking facts RAISING KANAN is the shit, I was being nice 🤨 nice don’t work ok,” he wrote in one caption. In another he added, "NAACP didn’t acknowledge RAISING KANAN because of STARZ. WTF THE SHOW IS THE BEST ON TV RIGHT NOW!"
50 wasn’t the only one who took issue with this year’s Image Award nominations. On Thursday afternoon, Boots Riley hit up X (formerly know as Twitter) to address the lack of love for I’m a Virgo—his surreal comedy-drama series about a 13-foot-tall man named Cootie (Jharrel Jerome). The Amazon Prime show was praised for its humor and social commentary as well as its striking, outlandish visuals.
Boots Riley, who created I’m a Virgo, admitted he's used to snubs, but the Image Awards shutout particularly stings.
“I guess I’m A Virgo doesnt fit the image that the NAACP Image Awards wants to portray,” he wrote. “I usually expect to not be nominated for things, but I guess its obvious why this one feels bad. We made something unlike anything ppl have seen before, pushing the envelope. But, whatever.”
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