50 Cent instigated a firestorm this week when he tweeted what he apparently thought was a hilarious insult about autism. It all started when one of 50 Cent's nearly 7 million Twitter followers wrote to the rapper: "Release the album or get shot again." In response, 50 Cent tweeted: "Yeah saw your picture fool you look autistic." Followed by: "I don't want no special ed kids on my time line follow some body else." Actress Holly Robinson Peete, whose 13-year-old son has autism, quickly got on 50 Cent's case, writing an open letter to the hip-hop mogul on her website. "Do you even know what autism is?" she wrote. "And what exactly does 'autistic' look like?" As word spread, a slew of horrified parents tweeted photos of their autistic children, along with the hashtag #WhatAutismLooksLike, to 50 Cent. The rapper quietly deleted his offensive tweets, but with many parents threatening a boycott of his music and products, is it time for the rapper to apologize, too?
Of course he should apologize: One in 88 American kids falls on the autism spectrum, which means that millions of families across the country are facing life-changing challenges each day, says Julie Ryan Evans at The Stir. "The last thing we need is people making fun of them or spreading misinformation about them." 50 Cent's comments are "ignorant and classless," and if he "has any kind of decent bone in his body," he'll offer a full-fledged apology.
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