50 Cent has received backlash over being photographed with Lauren Boebert. (Getty)
Rapper 50 Cent is facing a backlash after posing for a photo with right-wing congresswoman Lauren Boebert.
The In Da Club artist, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, was pictured alongside the Colorado representative in a posts on Wednesday (5 June).
Boebert shared the photo first, referring to the rapper’s his song 21 Questions, writing: “I’d still love you if you flipped burgers at Burger King, 50 Cent. I used to do that myself.”
The backlash grew significantly after the rapper shared his own post, writing: “Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, making the White House look good.”
The picture appears to have been taken in the Capitol building, not the White House.
Boebert has come under fire for her anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and for becoming involved in a number of controversies. Most notorious was her removal from a musical adaptation of Beetlejuice where she was caught vaping and fondling a date, who owns a drag bar.
She was asked to leave after theatre staff received several complaints about her behaviour. CCTV footage showed her giving staff the middle finger and asking: “Do you know who I am?”
She has apologised for the incident more than once, including a comment in The Washington Post in which she said: “Well, they should see me in church.”
Fans of 50 Cent criticised him for the photo and for showing support for the controversial Republican, with some calling it pathetic.
He responded in a post claiming that it’s common for people to fondle their dates in theatres, while also pointing out, somewhat bizarrely, that he doesn’t have a certain sexually transmitted infection.
“Wait, wait, guys, I took pictures with everyone and all you seem to care about is Lauren,” he wrote. “What did she do in a dark theatre that hasn’t been done?
“I don’t have chlamydia, by the way. LOL.”
Users were more bewildered by the post than anything else, with one writing: “Never put yourself in a situation where you have to put out a public statement that Lauren Boebert didn’t give you chlamydia.”
Another wrote: “Lmao, what an insane time to be alive.”
Elsewhere during a visit to Capitol Hill, the rapper said he sees Black men “identifying with Trump.”
When asked why, and apparently referring to the legal problems former president Donald Trump faces in an upcoming Georgia election interference case, he said: “Because they got RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act] charges.”