Hi. We said it was actually important when Obama came out for marriage equality, that words matter.
I also said it was important that Frank Ocean came out by telling the story of his first love, who happened to be a man. A trifling, emotionally unavailable man, but a man, nonetheless. Ocean is, and was before his coming out, of course, one of the most respected newer voices in the hip-hop/R&B world.
And now 50 Cent, who has a history of homophobia, to put it mildly, has, well, “evolved”:
50 Cent has made his feelings towards the gay community perfectly clear, what with his insensitive tweets about shooting up a gay wedding and suggesting men kill themselves if they don’t sexually satisfy women. But the times, they are a-changin’, and it appears that even Fiddy can evolve, as he recently joined Beyonce, Tyler The Creator and Russell Simmons in showing his support of Frank Ocean‘s coming out.
“Anyone that has an issue with Frank Ocean is an idiot,” 50 Cent told MTV UK. “I think Frank Ocean is a talented artist, I think he’s created material that made me know his name, that impressed me, with things he said on a song like ‘Novacane.’”
“I could care less about what his personal preference is in the bedroom,” the rapper added. ”I’m sure the gay community will go out and support Frank Ocean. They have to. The more successful that project is now, it’s going to leave people in the position where they can actually say, ‘Look, I’m gay.’”
AND:
The MC is even following in the steps of Jay-Z and T.I. and is speaking out in favor of gay marriage. “Obama is for same-sex marriage,” 50 pointed out. “If the president is saying that, then who am I to go the other way?”
Don’t worry about the exact terminology he’s using. We have years to argue over whether people should use words like “preference,” or that in another place, he uses the word “choose.” It’s. Not. Important.
50 Cent represents the really, really hardcore side of hip-hop, where machismo rules the day. And he’s saying he supports Frank Ocean and that if Barack Obama’s cool with it, well then, fine.
Progress!
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My two cents: I wouldn’t say that it’s “not important” to educate people about the facts surrounding sexual orientation and choice and work to eliminate choice language (i.e. “preference”) from the dialogue about LGBT people and identity. But I absolutely, 100% agree that in situations like these, it’s of *secondary* importance. It’s vastly more important to recognize the huge step forward that announcements like these represent, applaud celebrities like 50 Cent for being on the right side of history, and reach out in good faith to educate them and bring them further. Lambasting people for not being 100% where we’d like them to be — i.e. making the perfect the enemy of the good — is absolutely not helpful, so there I agree completely.
Good to see even 50 Cent coming around. That was a surprise. I prefer to simply observe and see how his views on this evolve. Not going to give the man a bad time since, for him, this is a really BIG turn-around.
I agree with John M. Becker that reaching out in good faith and working to further his commitment to GLBT rights and marriage equality is the way to go. Don’t kick a man when he finally holds out his hand in peace.