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Home β€’ Celebrity

Taraji P. Henson Fires Back at 50 Cent After 'Empire' Diss

Cookie Lyon plays no games.
Taraji P. Henson Fires Back at 50 Cent After 'Empire' Diss
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
By Essence · Updated October 26, 2020
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

This story originally appeared on PEOPLE.com.

Taraji P. Henson channeled her inner Cookie Lyon and fired back at 50 Cent. 

The rapper-turned-producer, 41, took to Instagram to share a screenshot of Henson, 46, with a headline claiming her show Empire‘s ratings were dropping. 

“Well look at the bright side at least. You can eat your trophies,” 50 Cent in a since-deleted Instagram post, according to E! News. “I was talking to old girl but you felt like you had to respond. SMH you know I love you cookie. I got a new show for you BMF COMING SOON !!!#EFFENVODKA.” 

Taraji P. Henson Is Not Here For 50 Cent’s Instagram Attack On Vivica A. Fox

Henson responded with her own screengrab, sharing a statement that her show “remains the No. 1 show on broadcast TV.” 

“For the confused ppl. Do REAL research!!! Loose change makes sooooooo much UNNECESSARY NOISE. STILL LOOKING FOR THAT DAMN CENT SIGN!!! I guess it’s obsolete. AGAIN CONGRATS ON YOUR SUCCESS BLACK MAN!!! @50cent,” Henson wrote in a post on Saturday.

For the confused ppl. Do REAL research!!! Loose change makes sooooooo much UNNECESSARY NOISE. STILL LOOKING FOR THAT DAMN CENT SIGN!!!πŸ˜’ I guess it's obsolete πŸ˜”. AGAIN CONGRATS ON YOUR SUCCESS BLACK MAN!!! @50cent 😘😘😘

A photo posted by taraji p henson (@tarajiphenson) on Sep 24, 2016 at 11:09am PDT

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But slamming 50 Cent was not going to stop Henson from sharing support for 50 Cent’s Power costar Naturi Naughton. 

“Sooooooooo proud of you@naturi4real I WANT YOU TO KNOW I will NEVER let any NEGATIVITY come between the LOVE I have for my sisters!!! As women we put up with enough BS. I will NEVER add to that stress and heartache!!! YOU ARE DOPE on #Powerand in life!!! #BlackGirlMagic SHINE BABY SHINE,” Henson wrote.  

Sooooooooo proud of you @naturi4real I WANT YOU TO KNOW I will NEVER let any NEGATIVITY come between the LOVE I have for my sisters!!! As women we put up with enough BS. I will NEVER add to that stress and heartache!!! YOU ARE DOPE on #Power and in life!!! #BlackGirlMagic SHINE BABY SHINE πŸ’‹πŸ’‹πŸ’‹

A photo posted by taraji p henson (@tarajiphenson) on Sep 24, 2016 at 1:01pm PDT

In response, 50 Cent took to Instagram yet again to throw some more punches. 

“All this back and forth s–t is starting to turning me on cookie, LMAO I ran into Lee Daniels at the gym on Sunset Blvd. he asked why I didn’t except his offer to be on EMPIRE. I told him I have a lot going on, I’m actually working on the show FOX is gonna replaceEMPIRE with, he looked at me like…why the f–k are you doing that?” he wrote in a subsequent – and since-deleted – post. “It’s because I’m a drug dealer, and I was taught to get in, get your weight up, then take over. So that’s the deal #EFFENVODKA #smsaudio #FRIGO.”

TOPICS:  Empire Taraji P. Henson