Rappers and feuds go together like chocolate and peanut butter. With that in mind, one of the most exciting recent conflicts occurred when 50 Cent lashed out at Power showrunner Courtney Kemp for showing a full-frontal nude shot of the musician on the series (supposedly) without his knowledge. Months after this incident, Kemp finally provided her two cents on her feud with 50 Cent. As it turns out, the beef apparently was all theater designed to generate social media buzz. She explained:
It's all bullshit! 50 and I are extremely close, so all that social media drama? It's just for the show. People truly believed that he did not know his dick was going to be on camera. I couldn't believe it! Do you know how long we had to prepare for that shot? Of course he knew. The whole thing just gave us so much more buzz and helped me realize how we can use social media to our advantage. 50 Cent is a brilliant marketer.
Courtney Kemp's recent remarks to Refinery 29 shine an often unseen light into the world of marketing. While most of us saw the social media feud escalate between her and 50 Cent over the infamous scene, the reality of the situation was far more calculated than we would've ever assumed. 50 Cent apparently never had a problem with his Power nude scene; nor did he ever have an issue with Kemp herself. He simply knew people would talk about Power if the pretended that he did. Considering the historic ratings that the show has pulled in for Starz, the idea seems to have paid off.
For the sake of context, here is one of 50 Cent's Instagram posts from when he allegedly freaked out over seeing his (insert eggplant emoji here) on an episode of Power.
Whether it's intentional or by accident, there's no denying the fact that social media feuds can become great ways to get the word out about a particular project. We've seen examples of this phenomenon before. Last year Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel similarly grabbed headlines when their feud on the set of The Fate of the Furious spilled over into social media. The situation snowballed further when co-stars like Tyrese Gibson chimed in to provide their own takes on the matter. No studio wants to hear that a project is bogged down by on-set drama, but we're sure that the folks behind the eight Fast & Furious movie weren't upset when they saw how well the movie trended online.
Celebrities like Dwayne Johnson, Stephen Amell, and even 50 Cent have become their own brands with the advent and prevalence of social media. By sharing, posting, and even feuding, they have managed to find ways to get people talking about their projects without spending a dime on advertising. Those are some real 21st century Don Draper tactics if you ask me.
Power is currently slated to return to Starz this summer. For more information related to all of the spring television debuts left to go in 2017, make sure to check out our comprehensive midseason premiere guide and fill out your TV viewing schedules accordingly! Summer is fast approaching as well, so take a look at our summer premiere guide as well!
