50 Cent. Worth About As Much As His Name?

50 Cent is a celebrity a lot of us have grown up with. Like or loath him, Curtis James Jackson or "fitty cent" as we all know him by, has made millions from his rapping career; Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre being two albums which catapulted the man to world-wide success. 50 didn't have the easiest life pre-famegame, any story about him being ravaged with details of drugs, famine and gang-fights. This however only made his fans respect him more, a man who had come from a desperate situation to world-wide success should be recognised, right?

Well, if worldwide recognition was what 50 wanted, he sure got it yesterday. And for all the wrong reasons. I'm one for freedom of speech and I whole-heartedly believe it should be respected, however when your thoughts are discriminatory in any way, to race, gender, or in this case disability, it becomes extremely unacceptable.

50 first retorted to a fellow tweeter with the line "yeah i just saw your picture fool you look autistic"; bad enough, yes? Well 50 didn't seem to think so, further tweeting that "i dont want no special ed kids on my time line follow somebody else"; grammar mistakes and the confusion he seems to have between Facebook timelines and Twitter aside, this comment in itself is completely unforgiveable not only from a world renowned celebrity, but anyone for that matter. I really struggle to grasp how a 36 year old man could ever justify these comments, a man who has dealt with and overcome so much in his own lifetime.

His petty excuse followed, seen below.

One thing 50 didn't realise, and quite honestly I didn't either (before becoming obsessed with Twitter), was how strong and far-reaching the social media family for those with autism is. Personally, I love to follow those with the same interests as my own and have learnt so much from posts and tweets from those all around the globe who are siblings, parents, relatives of, or are dealing with this disorder on a daily basis.

One of these people is the American actress and singer Holly Robinson Peete whose son Rodney Jr has autism. She sent this letter to 50 Cent following his Twitter backlash, which has now led to the question - What does autism look like? Many fellow Tweeters are now hash-tagging #FaceofAutism and #thisiswhatautismlookslike directly to 50 Cent, showing yet again the power of social media in the light of discriminatory abuse.

Maybe it's different for me, having grown up in a house where autism played a predominant and unforgettable role I cannot comprehend how, in a society where we cannot and should not judge people on gender, race or religion, that 50 Cent thinks it is somehow acceptable to judge based on disability. Maybe he's missed a vital lesson of the 21st century, that we are all equal individuals, no matter what. Here's to hoping that the Twitter retorts to 50 Cent, hashtags, letters and calls for an apology actually lead to something, and this disgusting display of abuse is not just swept under the carpet!