ESPN Reaches New Low with Interview of Rapper 50 Cent

ESPN hit a new low this afternoon in a blatant attempt to expand their audience to the hip-hop crowd.

During the ESPNews broadcast between 2:00 and 2:30 PM, they had a guest analyst on to expound on a myriad of topics they thought were of interest to their audience.

In their lead-up to his appearance, they hinted he would be able to give a unique take on three of the most pressing issues of the day in sports: drugs, money, and entertainment.

So, who could this guest analyst be?

Would it be a former athlete who has faced the issues of drug use, the intense media attention, and career-threatening aura that surrounds it?

Was he one of the many professional sports franchises’ owners, there to give his perspective on the economic outlook for his league and how that might affect free agency and the coming season?

Or would it be one of the many star athletes of the day, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Larry Fitzgerald, Adrian Peterson, Payton Manning, Dustin Pedroia, or Manny Ramirez there to give us a unique take on all the fame and fortune?

No, it was rapper '50 Cent.' A former drug dealer (I guess ESPN thinks this gives him a unique take on drug issues—yeah, he’s a scumbag who didn’t have problems with illegal drugs or selling them to kids) whose only claim to fame is being a lowlife misogynistic jerk able to rhyme a little while pretending to be a tough guy thug.

So, what exactly did they discuss with 50 Cent?

First, they tried to get his take on the steroid issue in the MLB, and in particular the situation with Alex Rodriguez. 50 Cent didn’t seem much interested in discussing this issue other than pointing out he felt the media was unfairly targeting Rodriguez and were letting lots of other players “get away with it.”

They then moved on to Plaxico Burress’ legal problems caused by his having shot himself in the thigh in a club with a gun he had no license to carry.

On this issue, 50 Cent actually sounded rather intelligent, stating he couldn’t quite understand what Burress was thinking in not having bodyguards with licenses to carry weapons do all the work in keeping him secure.

As the interviewer, Bram Weinstein, realized he wasn’t going to get 50 Cent to make a controversial statement on par with some made by other athletes and entertainers defending Plaxico, he quickly moved on.

What next? Why Bram actually asked this guy about the economy. Using the incident with Connecticut’s Head Coach Jim Calhoun and the Governor of Connecticut (the governor has criticized Calhoun for his rant at a reporter who had questioned Calhoun's sizable salary in these tough economic times), they discussed whether athletes, coaches, or entertainers should give money back because of the bad economy.

The reply of 50 Cent to all of this? Well, he made a cogent point at least. Stating [and I’m paraphrasing]:

“Why should athletes, coaches, or entertainers give money back when the economy is bad; would they get more money when the economy was good?”

Bram Weinstein quickly agreed with him, saying “No, they wouldn’t”, but I’d pose the question to 50 Cent, “Don’t athletes, coaches, and entertainers always get more money as time goes by, whether the economy is good or bad?” and when he answered yes, I’d then point out that he just answered yes to his own question as well.

Weinstein then moved on to ownership of sports franchises by entertainers, and asked 50 Cent if he would be interested in owning a franchise.

When 50 Cent quickly and succinctly answered “No” Bram still tried to sell this as a topic of discussion, bringing up Jay-Z and spinning out a hypothetical where 50 Cent owned the Cavaliers and was LeBron’s boss, and asked “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Finally, Weinstein served up a series of quick comparison style questions, beginning with, “LeBron or Kobe?”

This was about the most interesting segment of the entire interview, as 50 Cent stated:

“Kobe. I think Kobe’s the best player. LeBron…is exciting. You can’t take nothin’ from him. I like to watch him play, understan’? You be glued to the TV when he’s out there, but Kobe’s…I feel like is the best player in the league.”

Then Weinstein finished up with the following other comparison questions [and I’m paraphrasing as I don’t want to include every bit of the bantering and stuff that went back and forth from this idiot interviewer and 50 Cent]:

Q: “Brett Favre retires. Do you care?”

A: “No.”

Q: “Tiger Woods returns. Do you care?”

A: “I’m not a big golf fan.”

Q: “Ovechkin or Crosby?”

A: “Aaahh…man…”

Q: “You’re wearing the hat…” [50 Cent was wearing a NJ Devils Cap I believe]

A: “The hat matches the shirt. You set me up. You knew that this was just part of the outfit…”

Q: “If I was a rapper, what would be my name?”

A: “Game. Cause you be havin’ all this information on professional sports and stuff.”

Way to toss in a completely ridiculous and idiotic question there at the end, Bram. As if anyone watching really cared what 50 Cent thinks your moniker should be in this fantasy world where you’re a rapper and not a lame interviewer on one of the lamest sports shows on television. Oh, and 50 Cent, isn't there already a rapper with that name?

Well, they got their “unique” take on drugs, money, and entertainment in sports, as they promised. I’m just not sure they really expanded their audience doing it. For while, a few thugs and crackheads sitting at home because they don’t have a job may have seen it and liked it, not many other people who had to work did.

Those people aren’t the ones they were targeting with this interview, but they make up the majority, the vast majority, of ESPN’s audience. I’m not sure going after a marginal extra fraction of the audience pie is worth possibly alienating more members than they have already. Of course, that hasn’t stopped ESPN yet from making dumb moves like this.