Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has made no secret of his growing issues with Starz, the home to his extremely popular Power Universe and BMF. For the last few months, the rapper/producer has aired his grievances with the network on Instagram. And now, in his latest post, per HipHopDX, the “In Da Club” rapper said he is trying to acquire the Power Universe back from Starz, using a UFC fight to show his frustration.
“Everybody ready to work, I’m trying to buy my universe back from STARZ so it goes where ever i go,” he wrote. “Only 5 months left in my deal, and i’m not on the air for 6 months so We Out!”
Considering that the Power Universe comprises Starz’s most popular shows, the network isn’t about to give up its Golden Goose. Would HBO give Game of Thrones back to George R.R. Martin? Would AMC let Robert Kirkman take The Walking Dead to another outlet? No and no. So 50 Cent can post about how unhappy he is all he wants, but he’s probably stuck with Starz.
Jackson recently took to Twitter to complain about Starz not renewing Power Book IV: Force fast enough, leading to a long break between series. He tweeted, “I have 4 more episodes of FORCE, then i don’t have anything airing on STARZ for six months so y’all know the vibes.” It’s worth noting that when compared to the other shows in the franchise, the network did take longer than usual to renew Force.
The universe is immensely successful for the network. Power Book II: Ghost’s finale had Starz’s most watched day ever on its app, then it was immediately followed by Power Book IV: Force having the most watched premiere in Starz history. This comes on the heels of an Instagram post that 50 wrote earlier this year that featured a video of a man packing and was captioned, “This is me packing my stuff, STARZ. Sucks, my deal is up over here I’m out. They renewed High Town, and FORCE is the highest rated show they have sitting in limbo.”
Yes, we may not know all the ins and outs of his deal with Starz, but I can’t recall a network giving up a popular, profitable franchise just because the producer wants to leave. That’s not really how the business works. 50 Cent has made it abundantly clear he’s done with Starz, but unfortunately for him, Starz is definitely not done with the Power Universe.