One teenager is accusing 50 Cent of being more than "Just a Lil Bit" influential.
A New York mom and her 14-year-old son have sued Fiddy, Tony Yayo, Violator Management and the Universal Music Group-owned Interscope, G-Unit and Shady Records for allegedly promoting the type of behavior that resulted in the young man being assaulted on a Manhattan sidewalk.
Per court documents filed Wednesday, James Rosemond claims he was jumped by G-unit rapper Yayo and three other men in March 2007 because he was wearing a Czar Entertainment T-shirt—Czar being the management company that represents The Game, one of 50 Cent's sworn nemeses.
The teen is the son of The Game's manager, Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond.
And although Fiddy, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, wasn't at the scene, Rosemond and mother Cynthia Reed contend that the "gangsta lifestyle" he promotes through his music and public image led to the assault.
The attack on the younger Rosemond was intended to "promote and maintain Yayo and 50 Cent's 'gangsta' image,'" which has been "promoted, marketed and advertised" by their record labels, the complaint states.
Yayo, who was born Marvin Bernard, admitted that he threatened the boy and was sentenced in February to 10 days of community service after pleading guilty to harassment in connection with the incident. His employee, Lowell Fletcher, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to nine months in jail.
"The members of G-Unit, including defendants Yayo and 50 Cent, encouraged, sanctioned, approved and condoned its members threatening violence, and or engaging in violent acts in furtherance of its business," the lawsuit states.
All of the defendants have declined to comment.
Fiddy's people have apparently been less tight-lipped in their ongoing negotiations with writer-director Joshua Leonard (one of the camera-toting stars of The Blair Witch Project), who according to Variety is looking to cast the "In Da Club" MC in his upcoming indie film Spectacular Regret.
The sometimes-actor, who has also appeared in the films Get Rich or Die Tryin' and Home of the Brave, would play a death-row inmate whose pending executing has made him a cause célèbre.