A Nigerian starts petition to stop 50 Cent's Hushpuppi series, says it glorifies cybercrime

Following the sentencing of Nigerian fraudster Hushpuppi on November 7th, 2022, rapper and businessman 50 Cent took to his social media pages to announce his intention of making a television show inspired by Hushpuppi and his lifestyle.

“For my scammers I gotta do this one, Hushpuppy series coming soon!” he wrote captioning his post which featured pictures of Hushpuppi.

This news caused an uproar online, with people complaining that the project will glorify cybercrime. This led to a petition calling for the TV series to be stopped.

The petition's creator, Samuel Effiong, lamented that the rapper was romanticising the idea of fraud as well as further damaging Nigeria's reputation with the planned project.

Explaining his reason for starting the petition, Effiong wrote, “I am disappointed by 50 Cent’s recent announcement about a planned movie series on Ramon Olorunwa Abbas also known as Hushpuppi, a convicted felon currently serving 11 years in a maximum security prison in the U.S over cybercrime or “yahoo yahoo” as it is popularly called in Nigeria, this proposed series will further tank Nigeria’s battered image as it will reinforce stereotypes about all Nigerians being scammers."

He added, "Furthermore, this plan would not only make Hushpuppi rich, as he would have to be paid for rights, but it would also encourage and glamourise cybercrime. This has to be stopped. Join me to call on 50Cent to stop the Hushpuppi series."

The idea to make a movie based on Hushpuppi's run-in with international law enforcement is not unique to 50 Cent. Prior to 50 Cent’s news, Universal Pictures, Will Packer Productions, and Mo Abudu's EbonyLife acquired the rights to the Bloomberg article "The Fall of the Billionaire Gucci Master," about the Instagram influencer Hushpuppi in 2021. This move got mostly negative reactions from Nigerians.