PARapper 50 Cent has claimed Chris Brown is better than Michael Jackson in a controversial Instagram post which he has since deleted.
Fiddy, real name Curtis James Jackson III, made the bold claim while re-posting statistics which claimed Brown is now the seventh best-selling singles artist of all time.
Alongside the stats, which stated the R&B singer had sold 69.5 million singles in the US, the Power producer declared Brown had officially overtaken MJ as the King of Pop.
Sharing a screenshot of a tweet which also said Brown has now ‘totalled 100M RIAA certified units’, 50 Cent praised the singer for his achievements. The RIAA is the Recording Industry Association of America and awards certification to artists based on the number of albums and singles sold.
According to the organisation’s website, Brown has totalled 69.5 million RIAA certified units – not the 100 million the tweet falsely mentioned. Only five artists have surpassed 100 million RIAA units: Drake (148M); Rihanna (125M); Taylor Swift (121M); Eminem (107.5M); and Katy Perry (101M).
50 Cent wrote, as per NME:
CB better then MJ to me now. I can’t believe mike wanted to touch the little boys booty
He later deleted the post, only to share another which said: ‘all I said was I think CB is better than MJ now. after I saw the documentary, The little boys butts will never be the same’.
Both posts were in reference to allegations made against Jackson, put forward in the Leaving Neverland documentary, whereby Wade Robson and James Safechuck claimed the so-called King of Pop sexually abused them when they were children.
The two-part, four-hour documentary features interviews with Robson and Safechuck – now in their thirties but who met Jackson at the age of seven and 10, respectively – who claim they were victimised by the late singer through ‘sustained exploitation and deception’.
This wasn’t the first time Jackson had been accused of sexual abuse; the singer was put on trial accused of child abuse in 2005 before being cleared of all charges. Jackson maintained his innocence regarding allegations of child molestation until his death in 2009.
The post from 50 Cent angered his followers, many of whom called him a hypocrite for supporting Brown, who they say ‘abused many women’. Another person wrote: ‘I mean if you’re going based off crime, Chris did assault a woman’.
This is in relation to Brown’s arrest and ultimate ‘guilty’ plea for assaulting his then girlfriend, Rihanna, in 2009. In the years since, Brown has been accused of assaulting women on numerous occasions – including allegedly punching a woman in the face in a Las Vegas night club, as per Rolling Stone.
Brown’s former girlfriend Karrueche Tran also claimed he threatened to kill her and in 2017 obtained a permanent restraining order against him, according to E! News.
In January this year, Associated Press reports he was arrested for allegedly drugging and raping a woman in Paris, but was allowed to leave the country without being charged. Brown described the allegations as false.
GettyIn light of the singer’s chequered past, many have questioned how his new album Indigo – which features a host of well-known musicians such as Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, and Drake – has earned such high praise.
While one person said people who supported Brown were ‘f*cked,’ adding: ‘Imagine openly loving an abuser in this day and age,’ another said they were ‘disappointed’ in the number of people who ‘decided to forget’ about Brown’s history.
Brown has admitted to the altercation with Rihanna, saying he ‘felt like a f*cking monster‘ after a picture of her bruised face circulated worldwide, but has maintained his innocence with the other alleged incidents.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence contact the National Domestic Violence Helpline (run in partnership with Women’s Aid and Refuge) on 0808 2000 247.
A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).