50 Cent Paid $1,100 Fine for Profanity-Laced Concert in St. Kitts
UPDATE: 50 Cent paid a $1,100 fine after he was arrested in the Caribbean island, St. Kitts, for using explicit language onstage, Billboard reports. A representative for the rapper said in a statement: “We just want people to know we ain’t mad about this, we all had a good time. 50 enjoyed it so much he decided to stay longer … and we would come back and perform in St. Kitts again anytime they would like to have us back.”
50 Cent was arrested Saturday following a performance after cursing onstage, which is prohibited by the nation’s law. The rapper was booked on charges of profanity after dropping a “motherfuckin'” while performing his hit “P.I.M.P.,” TMZ reports.
The site added that 50 Cent’s DJ didn’t play a censored version of the 2003 single at the St. Kitts Music Festival, but when the F-bombs were broadcast over the speakers, the rapper still muttered the profanities instead of sidestepping them. That was enough for authorities to charge 50 Cent with using explicit language in public.
“[Curtis “50 Cent”] Jackson was only booked to host the show, when he arrived at the festival organizers asked him to perform, he obliged and used the DJ they had there,” the rapper’s representative wrote in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Unfortunately, they didn’t have the clean version to his tracks, so there were profanities used during his performance. The show was a great success and he will make sure for future trips to St. Kitts that he leaves the ‘motherf*****s’ in the United States.”
Had 50 Cent brushed up on his Eastern Caribbean Law prior to the St. Kitts performance, he would have read that cursing in public is illegal in the nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2003, rapper DMX was also arrested for cursing during a concert in the Caribbean country.
“There was a contract signed in which it was made very clear long before the arrival of the artists that there are laws in St. Kitts that do not take kindly to the use of indecent language on stage,” Information Minister Jacinth Henry Martin said at the time of DMX’s arrest. The rapper denied signing any contract that warned that explicit language was prohibited.
In the 50 Cent case, like in the DMX incident, it’s expected the rapper will pay a small bail – DMX was forced to pay $376 – before being released. However, 50 Cent must wait until Monday, when the St. Kitts court is in session, to face the profanity charge.
50 Cent has not commented on the arrest on social media, although he has spent the past few days promoting his vodka and disparaging Puff Daddy.