50 Cent Threatens to Take ‘Power’ to Another Network Amid STARZ Drama
All is not as it seems with STARZ’s hit show Power and its executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. The producer/actor of the show, which is the highest-rated series on STARZ and the second highest-rated show on premium cable, has apparently not been pleased with how the network is handling their business.
In response to behind the scenes conflicts, the rapper took to social media on Monday (July 31) to verbalize his grievances with the cable network. On Instagram, 50 posted a collage that depicted his Power character, antagonist Kanan, in an array of villainous happenings to perhaps get his point across. Our guess? 50 plays no games.
Accompanying the photo, 50 Cent wrote, “I woke up feeling a little different about POWER this morning. If the biggest show on your network doesn’t mean anything, what does your network mean STARZ? I’m taking my talents to south beach f**k this.”
50 Cent lashing out could be a knee-jerk reaction to the latest episode of Power, which in true Power fashion offered twists, turns, and some major character deaths. Apparently, the episode, entitled “New Man” was originally supposed to be two episodes. Show creator Courtney Kemp recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly to talk about the show and was very candid about the fact that STARZ refused to grant them with 12 episodes for the show’s current season.
“Unfortunately, Starz would not give us the extra episode,” Kemp told the publication. “I asked them for 12 episodes for Season 4, and they would not do it. So because they would not do it, we had to make it one episode.”
Other than their first season, every season up to this point have consisted of 10 episodes. But Kemp and 50 clearly had a vision and wanted Season 4 to have two more episodes more than the usual. A longer season could have helped flesh out plot lines and character arcs. In fact, writers had to cut out some story elements in order to meet STARZ’s imposed 10-episode limit.
Conflicts like that could very well be the reason 50 is over it. In addition to threatening to take the show elsewhere (which is highly unlikely), the “In Da Club” rapper also hinted he was ready to leave the show late last year amid awards show snubs.
Power is no doubt a hit, but for some reason – despite numbers, an engaging storyline, and great acting – has been overlooked by awards shows. This is a stark contrast from shows that have gotten awards show play in their first seasons like Master of None, Atlanta, and Insecure, for example. 50 Cent took to Instagram to call out the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for leaving Power out of its nominations for the 2016 Golden Globe Awards. You can find that post and its caption here.
If these two grievances from the vocal celeb are any indication, Kanan’s death might be closer than we think.
Photo Credit: PR Photos
