50 Cent Blames 'Empire' Ratings Fall on Gay Storylines

50 Cent sent a pretty big diss to the cast and crew of Empire, as the rapper blamed the ratings fall since season 2's premiere on their gay storylines. The popular Fox series has seen a decline in its ratings, despite the high anticipation for its second season, and now the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, is speaking out on the show’s speed bump.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, BET reports that 50 Cent wrote, “There are 3 million less viewers who tuned into last night’s Empire episode!!!! did you watch it? We could not take the extra gay stuff or celebrity stuff last night!!!!”

Viewers and fans went into a frenzy after Jackson’s alleged post, apparently because it sounded quite homophobic. The first episode highlights on Jussie Smollett’s character, who is in a relationship with a man on the show. The actor came out during the season this past year, and is homosexual in real life.

This isn’t the first time that 50 Cent has been sending disses to the show and its creators, as well as receiving backlash for it. The rapper has had a lot to say about the show in the past, after many viewers compared the plot of Empire to being very similar to his own curated series, Power, which airs on Starz.

Both shows have seen extremely high popularity amongst viewers, and it seems as though Power has done remarkably better in its second season that just aired this past summer, compared to Empire’s current second season.

After sending out many disses towards the show, and mostly Taraji P. Henson, her character, Cookie Lyon, sent out a message back at Jackson on the first episode of this season, calling him “thirsty” for all of his Instagram posts. Since then, 50 Cent has responded in a short video message, where he crudely jokes about having a sexual history with Henson’s character.