Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, rapper and executive producer of the Starz drama “Power,” addressed the back-and forth between himself and “Empire” stars Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard during the panel for “Power” at the Television Critics Association on Friday.
“Their show is … the artwork was very similar they used ‘power’ in the tagline … they didn’t have to do that,” Jackson said, when asked about the back-and-forth.
Acknowlegding that he has “a lot of friends connected to that program,” Jackson noted that he’s “seen [Henson] a few times,” but hasn’t made an effort to build a relationship with her.
For her part, “Power” creator Courtney Kemp Agboh attempted to distance herself from the mini-feud.
“I don’t have an opinion [on the back-and-forth]. I think the comparison doesn’t do a favor to either show. It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to us, because they’ve been in development for a long time, we were in development for a long time.”
“Their show is music-driven, it’s just different. We’re doing two different things,” Kemp Agboh continued.
Jackson and Henson got into it in December when the former accused the Fox show of copying “Power” in its promotional campaign.
Jackson wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post:“POWER Season 2 is unbelievably good trust me. I have the best writers and show runner. I like Terrence Howard and Taraji Henson. I don’t like that they would copy the marketing.”
Henson later took a shot back at Jackson, writing on Twitter, “I pay attention to $’s NOT cents.”
The actress later tempered her tone while speaking to TheWrap, chalking Jackson’s comments up to his sense of humor.
“50 Cent is a comedian,” Henson said. “He loves to push buttons. He’s a funny guy. I never took offense to it. If anything, I thought he was trying to jab at him,” referring to Howard. “He’s jealous of his looks.”