50 Cent Only Amenable To Getting Shot When Personally Profitable

So it turns out that those whack-a-mole-esque web ads where you’re asked to “shoot the rapper” (with a camera, of course) to win a “prize” aren’t just obnoxious, they’re also a trademark violation. 50 Cent has filed a $1 million dollar lawsuit against Traffix Inc., apparently the company responsible for the ad, claiming it’s an ugly-ass caricature of his famous head that’s been stuck on top of the little cartoon rapper’s body. Personally, whatever our commitment to mocking Curtis, I’ll be happy to see these ads gone; there was always something weird and gross, if not quite racist, about them, especially with the word “shoot” in mock-ironic quotes.

Still, the AP report notes, in the delicious deadpan prose that only economical newswire stories can inadvertently pull off, that Mr. Jackson is a “well known victim of gun violence.” And this, as Nah Right points out, gives the whole affair an … interesting slant, considering the plaintiff’s habit of trading on his all-too-real history with bullet holes. But whatever the lawsuit’s outcome, can someone go after those goddamn Match.com viral videos next?

50 Cent Sues Over “Shoot the Rapper” [AP via Nah Right]