50 Cent defends controversial gun poster

US rap star 50 Cent has defended the poster for his latest film Get Rich or Die Tryin', which shows him holding a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other. Paramount Pictures were forced to take down some of the offending billboards after public protests. But 50 Cent said the poster is merely a marketing tool. 'When you go to a Blockbuster or a local video store where you can rent DVDs or cassettes, you'll be able to find hundreds and hundreds of references to weapons used on the covers to market the actual film,' he said. 'Nobody had a problem with any of them until they see 50 Cent with a gun because there are different standards based on music. 'If you went into a music store, you wouldn't find many CDs distributed through a major record company that had those images, so I understand why they're saying those things but it's absolutely nonsense.' The film's director, Jim Sheridan, agreed that people were making too much of the poster, and that people need to focus on real guns, and not Hollywood props. He said: 'I'm not really so concerned about cardboard guns on a poster. I'd be much more concerned about real guns. I think they should make a bigger effort to get rid of the guns. 'It's kind of insane to think that freedom depends on having a gun in your hand, and if it does, they can't expect the most disenfranchised, poorest part of society not to have guns.'

ITN | November 1, 2005

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