Maybe Dave Chappelle summoned this in his latest special by making a reference to his classic joke—or maybe this is just 2020 being 2020—but Ja Rule is trending again.
Over the weekend, you may have noticed Ja Rule’s name in the Trending Topics column on Twitter. This time, it had nothing to do with Fyre Fest. Instead, we’re focusing on a huge hunk of gyro meat spinning over a broiler fire (or fyre?) because Ja Rule recently starred in a commercial for Papa Cristo’s, a popular Greek restaurant in Los Angeles.
Though celebrities usually get roasted for acting in these wacky, over-the-top commercials, I can’t knock an attempt at an honest dollar—especially after being in the news for trying to make an extremely dishonest dollar.
The commercial is as ridiculous as you can imagine. Whether it’s Ja dancing all over the grill with the pita bread or Ja struggling to pronounce “Tzatziki,” the antics are front and center. Naturally, the Twitter timeline is “always on time” with the jokes.
All jokes aside, this was actually all for a good cause (beyond increasing business for an establishment likely suffering a bit due to the pandemic, that is). On Monday morning, Ja confirmed that the commercial helped him raise money for No Kid Hungry, a campaign with the mission to end childhood hunger in the U.S. He’ll be bringing this same energy to an upcoming TBS Show called Celebrity Show-Off, premiering on June 23.
“Thanks for making my commercial trend!!!” Ja exclaimed on Twitter. “With your help we raised money for @nokidhungry and will be doing so every week on @celebshowoff so vote for ya boy!!! Show premieres tomorrow on @TBSNetwork Opaaa!!!”
Also, apparently Ja is promoting his services for private parties. Alrighty then!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to order some Papa Cristo’s, which means…this commercial did its damn job.