What happened to 50 Cent? Details explored as the rapper denies hospitalization rumors amid shooting incident 

50 Cent, real name Curtis James Jackson III, has debunked rumors of being shot and hospitalized. Recently, rumors began circulating that the Many Men hitmaker had been hospitalized following a shooting incident in Hollywood. The report claimed to have originated from TMZ and read:

“Breaking news! Rapper 50 Cent was hospitalized and is in critical conditions due to a shooting in Hollywood, according to TMZ.”

The rapper took to Instagram on March 10, 2025, to address the news, describing it as fake and reassuring fans that he was doing fine. He posted a screenshot of the news publication and captioned it:

“Don’t worry, I’m gonna make it, because this is fake news!”

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50 Cent’s shooting incident in 2000

50 Cent broke into mainstream rap in 1999 with the release of the song How to Rob. In the controversial song, the rapper described, using funny instances, how he would rob famous artists. The defining moment of his career came when he was shot nine times at point-blank range in 2000. The rapper was shot in the legs, chest, hand, arm, hip, and left cheek, causing a permanent dimple. 50 spoke about the shooting in an interview with MTV in 2003 and revealed that he was scared at the time:

"It happens so fast that you don't even get a chance to shoot back ... I was scared the whole time ... I was looking in the rear-view mirror like, 'Oh sh**, somebody shot me in the face! It burns, burns, burns.'"

He also described the incident as one that changed the trajectory of his life and gave him purpose. The rapper wrote in his autobiography, From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside Queens:

"After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life ... How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone."

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The rapper is in a feud with rapper and podcast host, Joe Budden. According to Hip Hop DX, the back and forth between the two rappers began with Budden calling 50 Cent out over the latter’s reaction to Irv Gotti’s passing—he had posted a picture where he smoked a hookah pipe next to a gravestone.

Budden condemned the other rapper for the image and added that he needed therapy. 50 responded by posting a screenshot of Budden’s podcast episode while warning him to stay out of his business. The Baby By Me rapper also referred to Budden’s stalking and lewdness case.