Althouse: "I’m afraid of politics, you understand? I do not like it. … It’s because when you do get involved in it, no matter how you feel, somebody passionately disagrees with you."

November 12, 2024

"I’m afraid of politics, you understand? I do not like it. … It’s because when you do get involved in it, no matter how you feel, somebody passionately disagrees with you."

"Look, if you say 'I stay away from religion,' I stay away from politics. Religion, that’s the formula for the confusion that it sent Kanye to Japan. He said something about both of those things and now he can only go to Japan. So you know I’m like I don’t want to get in that, man."

Said 50 Cent to Charlamagne Tha God, quoted in "50 Cent Reacts to Donald Trump’s Presidential Election Victory: 'Leaving With the Winner'/Last week Curtis said he proudly turned down an alleged seven-figure payday offer to appear with the once and future prez at MSG" (Billboard)("Curtis" = Curtis Jackson, AKA 50 Cent).

24 comments:

narciso said...: Charlamagne turned out to be a jive turkey; 11/12/24, 7:51 AM
wendybar said...: Just like the jive president we had in 2008.; 11/12/24, 7:59 AM
Tom T. said...: Let's not over-generalize. There were certain particular aspects to Kanye's remarks about "religion" that scared people away from him.; 11/12/24, 8:17 AM
Sally327 said...: I think that's just another way of saying "shut up and sing", and he's right, there is nothing to be gained for a musician or an actor popping up with some half baked opinion or voicing a point of view that alienates half the crowd. Stay in your lane. Let professional politicans and pundits do the bloviating. And those of us who post on blogs.; 11/12/24, 8:27 AM
rehajm said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/12/24, 8:30 AM
Lazarus said...: He's right. Childhood me assumed that people talked about current events and what was in the newspaper and magazines and exchanged opinions. That's a good recipe for half, or at least a third, of the people you talk to hate you.; 11/12/24, 8:55 AM
Freder Frederson said...: The difference in attitude, by both the commenters and Althouse, between this post and the post about Oprah couldn't be starker, or more indicative of the hypocrisy on this blog. In this post, Althouse plays down 50 cent saying he was offered seven figures to appear at MSG, while the Oprah post is all about how Harris may have violated FEC regs.; 11/12/24, 9:11 AM
Sally327 said...: I'm not seeing the hypocrisy, 50 cent openly disclosed he was offered money and there's nothing to indicate anyone else tried to hide the fact (assuming it did happen). Oprah, on the other hand, it's a lot murkier. We just want the truth.; 11/12/24, 9:14 AM
Freder Frederson said...: You don't want the truth, you just want to bash Harris while ignoring that Trump did the exact same thing.; 11/12/24, 9:24 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Turning that kind a dough, for at most an hour appearance, for a man who hasn’t had a hit record in decades, says a lot about his stage name.; 11/12/24, 9:29 AM
Keith said...: Freder- the difference is we know Oprah received a million dollars and it does not cost a million dollars to have Oprah appear except to the extent that you’re giving her a million bucks to appear. In contrast a rapper says hey I was offered a million bucks too about which we have no idea. It’s the difference between something that happened in real life and someone shooting his mouth off. They are two completely different things.

It’s like a senator is convicted of taking bribes versus having drinks with a friend who says yeah I tried to bribe that senator too. I mean two completely different situations.; 11/12/24, 9:33 AM
Jupiter said...: How fortunate we are to have these two illiterate thugs sharing their social insights with us.; 11/12/24, 9:50 AM
Two-eyed Jack said...: So, it's Kid Rock for the inauguration?; 11/12/24, 9:57 AM
Aggie said...: Or maybe it's based on the fact that Oprah took the gig, and is not dissembling about it, whereas 'offers not taken' is a different story, asserted without evidence'

On a side note, I notice that the usual Progressive Left Wing Media Hacks are still using this One Neat Trick, editorializing veracity in their news reporting, by salting in words like 'disproven claims' and 'without evidence' on matters of opinion, or matters that are disputed.

So, no - they haven't been beaten enough, yet, and need to continue losing until they give up and change their cheatin' ways.; 11/12/24, 10:10 AM
mikee said...: Seven figure deal from Trump turned down? Are you telling me this podcast guy has more gorm, spine, morals, ethics, acumen, or what call you, than Oprah, whose production company took a nice round million from Harris? Oh, how the mighty have fallen - all the way to the bank, in Oprah's case.; 11/12/24, 10:19 AM
Yancey Ward said...: A person in the entertainment industry is stupid to get involved in politics in the first place. No reason at all to alienate half of a potential customer base.; 11/12/24, 11:00 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Yancey Ward
The Rat Pack worked hard to get JFK elected. They were invited to the swearing in of JFK with the exception of Sammy Davis Jr, bad optics. Dean martin refused to attend because of the slight.; 11/12/24, 11:49 AM
Ann Althouse said...: “ The difference in attitude, by both the commenters and Althouse, between this post and the post about Oprah couldn't be starker, or more indicative of the hypocrisy on this blog. In this post, Althouse plays down 50 cent saying he was offered seven figures to appear at MSG, while the Oprah post is all about how Harris may have violated FEC regs.”

I originally had it as all one post. But I thought it would be confusing to comment on both of them at the same time. I regard them as of a piece. I don’t know where you get your inferences about what I think of 50 Cent not taking the money.; 11/12/24, 12:11 PM
Ann Althouse said...: In the post about Oprah, there was the assertion that the money that seemed to have been paid for the celebrity to appear was reported to the FEC as a production cost. That made me think of the Stormy Daniels case where much was made of the mislabeling of an expense. There’s no similar issue in the 50 Cent case where the money wasn’t paid and there’s nothing about how it was reported since it didn’t happen. In both cases, I am interested in the use of celebrities and the insincere endorsements and the profligate spending of campaign contributions — handing millions over to rich people who don’t even like the candidate. I get the impression that 50 Cent does like Trump, but doesn’t want to get in trouble for that so he keeps it somewhat quiet. In fact, I do have more respect for the person who keeps out of it altogether than I have for those who step up and try to leverage their fans when they wouldn’t simply freely give the endorsement but reap millions. It’s so unfair to the ordinary people who earnestly chipped in $10 or $20 because they thought the cause was so damned important.; 11/12/24, 12:18 PM
Freder Frederson said...: Because you stressed the potential FEC violations in the Oprah post and didn't even raise it in the 50 cent post. Why didn't you think to yourself (and write in the post): "Hey, 50 cent turned down seven figures, I wonder how many of the other speakers were paid".; 11/12/24, 12:33 PM
Jim Gust said...: "It’s so unfair to the ordinary people who earnestly chipped in $10 or $20 because they thought the cause was so damned important."

My thought exactly. It's why I'm happy to let rich people pay for the campaigns.; 11/12/24, 12:37 PM
Rocketeer said...: Unsurprisingly, Freder, like virtually all men and women of the left, can’t distinguish between things that happened and things that didn’t happen.; 11/12/24, 12:38 PM
Narr said...: My record is clean: I've never given a nickel to any pol or political campaign or organization--and as often as not, the person I prefer wins anyway.; 11/12/24, 1:59 PM
rehajm said...: Pick a parable. ‘A fool and his money…’ works for me…; 11/12/24, 3:39 PM