Holly Robinson Peete Calls 50 Cent Out On Twitter, Over Autism

A recent twitter comment, by Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, has got him into some heat with actress Holly Robinson Peete. On twitter, 50 made a joke to one of his twitter followers, saying he looked like he had autism. He retweeted a comment saying:

‘yeah just saw your picture fool you look autistic RT @yung_raditz @50cent Release the album or get shot again.’

He then wrote:

‘i dont want no special ed kids on my time line follow some body else.’

Although 50 appeared to be joking, some people found his lack of humor. And when Holly caught wind of this, she wrote an open letter on her website, Holly Rod Foundation. Peep a few excerpts below:

Dear 50 Cent,

Since last night my twitter timeline is flooded with tweets and retweets about a response you posted to someone who insulted you. When I read it my heart sank. I thought maybe your account had been hacked. No such luck. Granted, his comment was completely out of line but your retort: “i just saw your picture fool you look autistic”- was so so disappointing. I mean, that’s your comeback?? And you didn’t stop there. You went on to joke about not wanting “special ed kids” on your timeline. Seriously, THIS is how you use your platform of 8 million plus followers??

I’ve met you in passing over the years and I know you are a bright, astute businessman and legitimate philanthropist so it is with a bit of sincere confusion that I ask you… Do you even know what autism is? And what exactly does “autistic” look like? Do you know how wildly prevalent autism is? 1 in 88 have it. That’s 1 in 54 boys. Families suffer a social stigma you will never know. It is a financial and emotional drain for millions, so our non-profit- HollyRod Foundation works hard to raise funds to help these families cope…

I hope you can see how what you might see as a benign insult-or not- was so randomly hurtful, immature and misinformed. Maybe you are naive or indifferent as to how many of your fans might be deeply and personally offended by your insult. At the very least-can you please delete it? If you’ve read your mentions today I am sure you have felt the wrath of autism parents. We are no joke. Neither is autism. We are not about to let you attempt to make “autistic” the new “R-word” under our watch.

Read the full letter here.