Rapper 50 Cent offered Democratic socialist and newly nominated New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani $258,750 to leave the city on a first-class, one-way ticket.
The music mogul reacted strongly after Mamdani mentioned him during a radio interview about his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy.
Mamdani, 33, recently won the Democratic nomination in New York City’s mayoral primary, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Highlights
- Rapper 50 Cent offered NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani $258,750 and a first-class ticket to leave the city over his tax plan.
- Mamdani proposes a 2% tax hike on New Yorkers earning over $1 million and increased corporate taxes to fund affordability programs.
- Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary and could become NYC’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor.
50 Cent offered Zohran Mamdani $258k to leave New York
Image credits: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The Democratic socialist ran on a platform focused on affordability, promising rent freezes, free buses, and city-owned grocery stores.
He said he plans to fund these proposals through a 2% tax hike on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million annually, and by increasing the corporate tax rate.
“We’re talking about corporations that are making millions of dollars, not in revenue, but in profit,” Mamdani said during an interview on The Breakfast Club earlier this month.
“And the second is taxing the top 1% of New Yorkers. We’re talking about people who make a million dollars a year or more, taxing them just by a flat 2% tax increase.”
Mamdani referenced 50 Cent directly while explaining his tax proposal.
Image credits: Logan Riely/Getty Images
“I know if 50 Cent is listening, he’s not going to be happy about this,” Mamdani said. “He tends to not like this tax policy, but I want to be very clear this is about $20,000 a year.”
The rapper, born Curtis Jackson III, did not appreciate the shout-out.
On Wednesday, he fired back in an Instagram post that quickly went viral and has since been deleted.
“Where did he come from? Whose friend is this? I’m not feeling this plan. No. I will give him $258,750 and a first-class one-way ticket away from NY,” Jackson wrote.
“I’m telling Trump what he said too!” 50 Cent wrote in the post, along with a “thinking” emoji.
The post included a video of Mamdani explaining his tax policy.
50 Cent, 49, is a native of Queens and one of the wealthiest rappers in the world, with an estimated net worth nearing $1 billion.
He has frequently spoken out against high taxes and government spending, including during Biden’s tax plan. He had then asked his followers on Instagram to "vote for Trump."
Despite the criticism, Mamdani is standing by his plan.
In a Thursday night interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, he doubled down, saying New York’s wealthiest residents actually leave the city at lower rates than others.
Mamdani proposed a 2% tax hike on millionaires in New York
Image credits: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
“ The Fiscal Policy Institute did an analysis of the top one percent of New Yorkers and found that they leave the city at one-fourth the rate of other income categories,” Mamdani said. “And when they do leave, they leave to what are called high tax states, New Jersey, California.”
“So what it then comes down to is why are they leaving? Is it fiscal policy or is it actually quality of life? And I've heard that time and again from welfare New Yorkers, from all New Yorkers,” Mamdani said, responding to Burnett’s concern about New York’s wealthiest people deciding to leave the city if their taxes were to increase.
A 2022 report by the Fiscal Policy Institute called New York’s current tax system “regressive,” stating that the wealthy pay about the same combined state and local tax rate as the bottom 40 percent.
Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary marks a major shift in New York politics. If elected in November, Mamdani would become the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor.
He has drawn strong support from progressives like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The race now heads to a high-stakes general election. Current Mayor Eric Adams is running as an independent after federal charges against him were dropped.
Cuomo has not ruled out a possible independent run of his own.
Mamdani’s team has not responded to Jackson’s comment.