‘I was moving off of strategy’ – 50 Cent talks about Oprah beef and Gayle King confronting him

American rapper 50 Cent has revealed in his new book that talk show host Gayle King confronted him about his feud with her best friend, Oprah Winfrey. Excerpts from his yet-to-be-released book, Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter, reveal that King approached him at a black-tie gala about some comment he’d made about Winfrey in 2012.

“Gayle is the real deal – a very sophisticated, secure and smart lady. She’s never afraid of a situation…so she marched right up to me and basically said, “why you talking s-t about me girl?” the 44-year-old rapper wrote.

However, he told King he assumed Winfrey didn’t’ like him because of her criticism of his songs. He said Winfrey, at some point, described his songs as violent and misogynistic, The Daily Mail reported.

It appears that King once tried to help 50 Cent smoothen things out with Winfrey by making arrangements for him to appear on Winfrey’s Oprah’s Next Chapter in 2012.

“Before meeting me, they had bought into the 50 Cent persona … Someone who got into beefs and drama because he just couldn’t help himself,” he wrote about the meeting. “But when I said, ‘At least let me be an enemy,’ they understood that when I got into a beef, it was never driven by emotion. Instead, I was moving off of strategy.”

50 Cent is known for his frosty relationships with industry colleagues. In December last year, the producer and actor accused media mogul Winfrey of targeting black males who have been accused of sexual misconduct and assault over white celebrities, who are known and high-profile predators.

In an Instagram post, the rapper called out Winfrey over her upcoming documentary that focuses on Drew Dixon – one of the women who accused Def Jam Records co-founder, Russell Simmons of sexual misconduct. 

This isn’t the first time Winfrey has “exposed” black men accused of sexual misconduct. In 1993, she had a sit down with the accusers of pop star Michael Jackson who had prior to the interview been accused of long-standing accusations of molesting young boys in his Neverland mansion.

King was also on the receiving end of some backlash after she was said to have repeatedly brought back Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault charge during an interview with the deceased basketball legend’s close friend, Lisa Leslie.

The snippet of the interview, which was shared on social media by CBS, was swiftly condemned by a host of people, including 50 Cent.

“I didn’t understand what the goal is at that point,” the Get Rich or Die Tryin’ rapper started. “She knows what Kobe means to the actual culture at the same time. Like they knew what Michael Jackson meant. I just don’t know what you’re trying to do when the men are dead.”

He continued: “The system itself, the legal system couldn’t deal with it. What are you supposed to do? Publicly convict him? Is that the idea? Now is it justice or is it revenge?