50 Cent Talks About ‘40 Day’ Cancellation

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50 Cent has targeted a lot of foes in his rhymes, but the G-Unit leader won’t be adding Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the list anytime soon. The rapper postponed his 40 Day event scheduled for Sunday (August 30) in Queens, New York, when he was unable to obtain a permit from the city for the picnic. The process hit a snag after the New York Post quoted anonymous sources saying the New York Police Department had concerns over the rapper’s involvement.

Despite meeting with the New York mayor to squelch any concerns, 50 was unable to pull the event off. “People will point to Bloomberg and immediately think that I would be upset with Mayor Bloomberg or the governor, and both of them wanted me to have the actual event,” 50 told MTV News.

The problem, according to 50, was that city officials didn’t want him to publicize the festivities, fearing an overly large turnout would be difficult to manage. But before he could assure Bloomberg that safety wouldn’t be a problem, the Post ran an article making the private negotiations public.

“They told me not to promote the event, and then it got national coverage. Then the fear factor comes in,” 50 explained. “Can you control 100,000 people being in your neighborhood? ‘Cause you might not be sure of a turnout at an actual venue, but in the neighborhood, everyone is gonna show up.”

It would be easy to blame Bloomberg, 50 said, but ultimately, the mayor has to listen to his advisers. “He’s gonna look at the police commissioner and ask, ‘Is this gonna be a safe situation?’ ” 50 said. “And if they tell him no, then it’s not gonna happen.”

Fif, however, chided the Post for stirring up controversy. “Why are they reporting [about] an event that hasn’t taken place yet?” he asked. “Did no one get killed that day? Did no accidents happen that day? Why are they so interested? Because they know they can sell newspapers that way.”