Peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies, Taco Bell and 50 Cent? Does one of these seem out of place? Yeah, I thought so too. It doesn't appear that Taco Bell and 50 Cent will be joining forces anytime soon seeing as the two are once again tangled up in a law suit with each other.
The Beef
The dismal fall out began in July of 2008 when 50 Cent "Fiddy", the popular rapper and freshman business mogul sued fast food chain Taco Bell for $4 million claiming trademark infringement. The basis of the lawsuit began when Taco Bell wrote 50 Cent (born Curtis Jackson) a letter requesting he change his name for one day to help publicize and honor Taco Bell's value menu. Taco Bell requested in the letter to, "find a little loose change and make his name 79 cent, 89 cent, or 99 cent for one day." In return for the publicity Taco Bell offered to donate $10,000 to one of Jackson's favorite charities. Taco Bell admits that the promotion was intended to poke fun at Jackson's serious 'gangsta' persona, but were quite serious about the offer to donate to a charity of Fiddy's choice.
Gonna sue you like it's ya birthday
Aapparently not all musicians have a light- hearted sense of humor, even if it is for charity! Unfortunately for Jackson his claim really has no legal ground considering the basis of the first amendment or the fact that Taco Bell never used Jackson's name to promote any of their ads. The lawyer for Taco Bell also had this to add, "Jackson has used his colorful past to cultivate a public image of belligerence and arrogance and has a well- publicized track record for making threats, starting feuds, and filling lawsuits."
In the end, Bell's lawyers say 50 could have simply responded yes or no to the offer, and if he'd said yes, both would have benefited from the publicity for his good deed. Instead, though, the suit claimed he launched an "aggressive, offensive attack on Taco Bell in the press", including threatening legal action against the chain in a widely distributed sound bite in which he warned, "when my legal team is finished with them, Taco Bell is going to have a new corporate slogan: 'We messed with the bull and got the horns.' "Really Fiddy?
We get it- you're tough. You're the toughest rapper on the block. You've been shot nine times and lived to rap about it, you have on going feuds with other hip hopsters such as Ja Rule and Fat Joe, but come on- lighten up and have a sense of humor! I am positive when I say that no one will take you for less of a serious gangsta if you help a good cause which will donate to a charity. In fact being charitable is the right thing to do because you're in the position of being famous and can promote well being and kindness. Sure there aren't many gangsta philanthropists to speak of so wouldn't it be something of a trend to be the first one? Try and be nice, Fiddy. You never know- you might like it.
As of now no decisions have been made in the case. The lawsuit is still in the early stages of some good old fashion trash talking. Personally, I would like to see the two battle it out beat box style- winner takes all, loser has 'yo mamma' insults hurled at them.
5 comments:
Funny topic, I think. This made me laugh a lot. It is true, you have to be careful who you poke fun at because not everybody has a great sense of humor, especially musicians. Cool article.
Fifty cent has and always will be a stunt queen. Whatever he has too do to kept his name circulating in the media, he is all for it. Whatever happen to stars keeping their names relevant and current by displaying some actual talent. He has lost all his street credibility and star quality, so I guess he has to do something with his time. Because making decent music is definitely not monopolizing any of his time.
How selfish can you be? 50 Cent is just trying to maintain that tough-guy rap image in order to sell more records; when in fact teaming up with Taco Bell would have made for some great publicity. Others have done it—Sean John (P. Diddy) does commercials for Burger King. By completely passing on the opportunity to donate to charity and making it out like Taco Bell intended to degrade his name in some way, “Fiddy” has obviously chosen bad publicity over good publicity. To support his image, he’d rather have his name circulating with angry connotations—he wouldn’t want people to think he’s a softy. If he had teamed up with Taco Bell, he would have proven to people that he can take a joke while instilling the idea that ganstas have a little compassion in them too.
I guess 50 Cent sees it like many others do in show business—there’s no such thing as bad publicity. It all sells.
This was a really good blog. The topic itself funny, but I also really enjoyed your writing style.
Overall, I've noticed 50 cent to be a very defensive guy, always ready to attack, but it's pretty dumb of him to throw a fit over something so petty. What's sad is that many fans enjoy his music so much, that no matter how much of a divo he wants to be, he will continue to have fame at the top.
This was an interesting read and I love your style of writing. The only complaint I have is that I had to click over into the actual news story to see what the reason of the lawsuit was that 50 filed.
Trademark infringement?? Please, 50. The last time I checked, writing a letter to someone in no way was a means of using another person's name in a company's ad campaign. It's not like they were selling "In da Club Burritos."
When they start SELLING and ADVERTISING stuff with your name on it, then you've got a case, like this one:
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/celebrity/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/3822/20081107/1001271145.htm
Seems like he's just trying to Get Rich or Die Tryin' and not help any charities along the way...
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