A co-producer on 50 Cent's series BMF has been suspended by Lionsgate. The suspension follows allegations that the producer, Ian Woolf, threatened to hit striking writers with his SUV. According to reports, Woolf made the threat on June 8, allegedly using intimidation to "scare" picketers in Atlanta. Earlier this month, 50 Cent also shared that he himself doesn't agree with the WGA strike. He claimed that he doesn't "see it as a positive thing for the writers."
One of the writers that was allegedly threatened by Woolf, Brian Egeston, spoke out about the incident on Twitter. “Dear Mr. Ian Woolf, Welcome to Atlanta," Egeston begins the message, "What you did today on Hank Aaron Drive and blocks from the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr….was hateful." He continued, “When you pointed your SUV at me as though it were a weapon and slammed the breaks within six feet of writers, I felt the hate and aggression of scenarios similar to Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and others who have been harmed at the hands of hate-filled oppressors.”
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50 Cent Previously Spoke Out Against The Strike
Egeston continued the message, “As I marched with the WGA in a peaceful protest, similar to the giants who have walked the very streets where you almost committed manslaughter, you chose to—in your own words— ‘Tried to scare you.’" The writer also explains, "Mr. Woolf, this scare and intimidation tactic reeks of German Shepards, water hoses, bricks and burning flesh. It reeks of the worst kind of hate … I would implore you, in hindsight, to consider the ramifications of killing an African-American man in the streets of the city too busy to hate, while being the producer of an African-American TV show, created by an African American man, run by an African-American Man.”
Egeston's account of the incident has also been corroborated by two other writers, Gabriel Alejandro Garza and Tom Smuts. 50 Cent has not yet publicly commented on the allegations. Lionsgate has also shared a statement pertaining to the recent suspension. “We take acts of intimidation and threats of violence seriously and investigate them thoroughly,” it reads. “As we continue to investigate, we have sent home the individual involved.”
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