Why was 50 Cent almost banned from Canada in 2005?
50 Cent’s public persona leaned heavily into his criminal past during the 2000s, and it served his career remarkably well. But it almost resulted in some difficulties, too, like when he was almost banned from entering Canada.
In 2005, the same year he released his second album The Massacre, 50 was set to play a run of gigs in Canada. But to do so, he had to engage with some legal bureaucracy. Given his criminal record for drug and weapons offences, he needed to obtain a specific ministerial permit to enter the country.
There was a problem with getting that permit. A Canadian politician, Dan McTeague, didn’t want it to happen. He had developed a distaste for 50 Cent and all that he represented, so he tried to block him from entering the country.
McTeague addressed Canada’s then-immigration minister, Joe Volpe, to insist that 50 be blocked from receiving the necessary permit. To make his argument, he pointed towards 50’s past misdeeds and argued that his music served to advocate for gun violence.
“I don’t think people in Toronto or any urban centre need or want to hear Mr Jackson’s message right now,” McTeague stated. “I think it’s time we send a message of our own to those who glorify violence that their gratuitous violence and movies are not welcome in our country.”
Framing his stance as an effort to “protect” his fellow countryfolk, McTeague insisted that he was trying to defeat the scourge of gun violence. “We need to do a better job at protecting Canadians from people whose message runs counter to all of our efforts of trying to curb gun violence,” he said.
The immigration minister, Volpe, was having none of it. A spokesperson for the politician responded to McTeague’s intervention, noting that Canada regularly issued permits to people with criminal records. There would have been nothing unusual about doing so again.
“It’s permission that’s granted typically about 12,000 times a year,” the spokesperson announced to the press. “Whether the minister or departmental officials make a decision about intervening or not, it’s really not appropriate for us to be talking about it in a public forum.”
In the end, McTeague’s request was brushed aside. 50 Cent was ultimately allowed to enter Canada, with his string of gigs beginning in Vancouver and stopping off in several more cities around the country.