--- title: 50 Cent Says Donald Trump's Campaign Offered Him $500,000 description: 50 Cent said during a radio interview that he passed on a substantial offer from Trump's team to appear at a campaign event in 2016. canonical: https://time.com/4961465/50-cent-donald-trump-campaign-offer/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-28T20:41:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:54:17.058Z og:title: 50 Cent Says Trump Campaign Offered Him $500,000 for Support og:description: He believes it was part of an attempt to appeal to black voters og:url: https://time.com/4961465/50-cent-donald-trump-campaign-offer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad3e6c0a55fd8681/6988dfcd4ee2623e5130f31b/50-cent-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: 50 Cent Monte Carlo TV Festival og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 50 Cent Says Trump Campaign Offered Him $500,000 for Support twitter:description: He believes it was part of an attempt to appeal to black voters twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad3e6c0a55fd8681/6988dfcd4ee2623e5130f31b/50-cent-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 50 Cent Says Donald Trump's Campaign Offered Him $500,000 to Help Appeal to Black Voters > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=624cef0a-1548-4819-9118-5def05288133&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 50 Cent Files For Bankruptcy [Watch (HLS stream): 50 Cent Files For Bankruptcy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zTGaFj8A.m3u8) (0:51)  _Published 2015-07-13. Rapper 50 Cent filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. According to court papers, he has assets and debts ranging from $10-$50 million and up to 49 creditors._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 28, 2017 8:41 PM UTC Rapper 50 Cent filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. According to court papers, he has assets and debts ranging from $10-$50 million and up to 49 creditors.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 28, 2017 8:41 PM UTC [50 Cent](http://time.com/4317610/50-cent-apologizes-autistic-teen/) claims that he passed on an offer of $500,000 from [Donald Trump’s](http://time.com/4960846/rihanna-donald-trump-puerto-rico-tweet/) team to appear at a campaign event leading up to the [2016 presidential election](http://time.com/4954456/voter-registration-hack-states/). In a recent interview with the radio station Hot 97, the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, explained that he believes Trump’s staffers intended for his endorsement to be an appeal to black voters. “Before he got elected, they were having issues with the African American vote,” he said. “They wanted to pay me $500,000 as part of the campaign to just make an appearance.” He went on to explain why he rejected the alleged proposal: “I was like, ‘Nah, that’s not good money. Nah, I’m not going to do that. That’s not worth it!” He also shared his views on the trajectory of Trump’s presidency to date. “His presidency is an accident. If you were a president by accident, you might do some of the things Donald Trump is doing,” he said. “I think he was \[campaigning\] to build his profile for a bigger deal on television, and everything else.” Watch the full interview below. ## Transcript [00:00] 50 Cent just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. We [00:04] will spare you te puns. Big bills The rapper whose real [00:07] name is Curtis James Jackson III filed the papers in U. S. [00:11] bankruptcy court in Hartford, Connecticut. According to [00:13] those papers Jackson had his assets and debts Ranging [00:17] from 10 to 50 million dollars and up to 49 creditors, [00:21] this is only days after he was ordered to pay a woman who [00:24] sued him for invasion of privacy over a sex tape he wasn't [00:29] in but was accused of posting online. But considering his [00:32] role in the upcoming movie South Paw, that clothing line [00:35] he cofounded, and the minority stake he had in Vitamin [00:38] Water, The bankruptcy filing might be a little surprising. The [00:41] rapper is also involved with two production companies, and [00:44] recently signed a $ 78 million deal with underwear maker [00:48] FRIGO Revolution Wear. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4961465/50-cent-donald-trump-campaign-offer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4961465/50-cent-donald-trump-campaign-offer/"},"headline":"50 Cent Says Donald Trump's Campaign Offered Him $500,000 to Help Appeal to Black Voters","datePublished":"2017-09-28T20:41:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:54:17.058Z","description":"50 Cent said during a radio interview that he passed on a substantial offer from Trump's team to appear at a campaign event in 2016.","url":"https://time.com/4961465/50-cent-donald-trump-campaign-offer/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","celebrities","Donald Trump","50 Cent"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad3e6c0a55fd8681/6988dfcd4ee2623e5130f31b/50-cent-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad3e6c0a55fd8681/6988dfcd4ee2623e5130f31b/50-cent-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"50 Cent Monte Carlo TV Festival","caption":"Curtis Jackson III aka 50 Cent attends the Closing Ceremony of the 57th Monte Carlo TV Festival on June 20, 2017.","creditText":"Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4961465/50-cent-donald-trump-campaign-offer/","name":"50 Cent Says Donald Trump's Campaign Offered Him $500,000 to Help Appeal to Black Voters"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"50 Cent Files For Bankruptcy","description":"Rapper 50 Cent filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. 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