GotZoom
Senior Member
Bravo Canada! Pay special attention to the last paragraph. Definitely a WTF?
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OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government should ban U.S. rapper 50 Cent from touring Canada later this year because he has a criminal record and glorifies gun violence, a legislator from the ruling Liberal party said on Wednesday.
50 Cent, who was once shot nine times on the street in a gang incident, is the star of the recent film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", a fictionalized and violent portrayal of his career.
Junior Foreign Minister Dan McTeague said the rapper's message was inappropriate at a time when Toronto, Canada's largest city, was experiencing a surge in shooting deaths.
"I do want the laws of Canada to apply to anybody who is a criminal, an admitted criminal, as Mr Curtis Jackson -- known as 50 Cent -- is. Under our laws ... he would be deemed criminally inadmissible," he told CBC television.
Canadian law dictates that anyone with a criminal record needs a special permit from the office of Immigration Minister Joe Volpe to enter the country. McTeague has written to Volpe urging him not to grant the permit.
Volpe declined to discuss the case with reporters but said he too was concerned by the rising gun violence in Toronto, where 49 people have been killed so far this year, many of them young black men.
Although 50 Cent has acknowledged spending time behind bars, the current status of his criminal record is not clear. Representatives for the star did not immediately reply to requests for clarification.
McTeague criticized 50 Cent for "the message at this time that he brings, one of glorifying gun violence, often (the) denigration of women" and said the last time he gave a concert in Toronto in 2003, one person was killed outside the theater.
The rapper is due to start a Canadian tour in December.
Last month the distributor of "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" took down some movie billboards near Los Angeles-area schools after community leaders complained they glorified gangs and violence. The posters showed 50 Cent holding a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other.
"If we have young people as young as 14 leading gangs in my community around Toronto, we have to take into consideration that the message is often going to very impressionable people who think nothing of human life," said McTeague.
The rapper told Reuters on Tuesday that parents should buy their children his new video game and use it as a teaching tool. In the game, 50 Cent is depicted making his way through New York's underworld with armed guards and guns blazing.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...RTRUKOC_0_US-LEISURE-CANADA-50CENT.xml&rpc=22
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OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government should ban U.S. rapper 50 Cent from touring Canada later this year because he has a criminal record and glorifies gun violence, a legislator from the ruling Liberal party said on Wednesday.
50 Cent, who was once shot nine times on the street in a gang incident, is the star of the recent film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", a fictionalized and violent portrayal of his career.
Junior Foreign Minister Dan McTeague said the rapper's message was inappropriate at a time when Toronto, Canada's largest city, was experiencing a surge in shooting deaths.
"I do want the laws of Canada to apply to anybody who is a criminal, an admitted criminal, as Mr Curtis Jackson -- known as 50 Cent -- is. Under our laws ... he would be deemed criminally inadmissible," he told CBC television.
Canadian law dictates that anyone with a criminal record needs a special permit from the office of Immigration Minister Joe Volpe to enter the country. McTeague has written to Volpe urging him not to grant the permit.
Volpe declined to discuss the case with reporters but said he too was concerned by the rising gun violence in Toronto, where 49 people have been killed so far this year, many of them young black men.
Although 50 Cent has acknowledged spending time behind bars, the current status of his criminal record is not clear. Representatives for the star did not immediately reply to requests for clarification.
McTeague criticized 50 Cent for "the message at this time that he brings, one of glorifying gun violence, often (the) denigration of women" and said the last time he gave a concert in Toronto in 2003, one person was killed outside the theater.
The rapper is due to start a Canadian tour in December.
Last month the distributor of "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" took down some movie billboards near Los Angeles-area schools after community leaders complained they glorified gangs and violence. The posters showed 50 Cent holding a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other.
"If we have young people as young as 14 leading gangs in my community around Toronto, we have to take into consideration that the message is often going to very impressionable people who think nothing of human life," said McTeague.
The rapper told Reuters on Tuesday that parents should buy their children his new video game and use it as a teaching tool. In the game, 50 Cent is depicted making his way through New York's underworld with armed guards and guns blazing.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...RTRUKOC_0_US-LEISURE-CANADA-50CENT.xml&rpc=22
