Is 50 Cent the right person to produce a Diddy documentary?

After a grueling bidding war between streaming networks, rapper 50 Cent has sold the rights to Netflix to produce and house his forthcoming documentary detailing rap mogul Diddy's tumultuous career.

Jay Connor is a culture critic and senior editor at The Root. Tayo Bero is a culture writer & columnist at The Guardian. They join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss 50 Cent's reputation for trolling, and whether his involvement might affect how the doc tackles Diddy's personal & professional woes.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Jay, what was your initial reaction to the news that 50 Cent is going to be releasing a documentary about these allegations against Diddy?

Jay: Honestly, with 50 Cent being the king of trolls, I thought they were just playing. I thought he was just messing with Diddy like he's been doing for years. But when I actually saw that the deal went through with Netflix, I was like, oh wow, this is actually something legit. It just proves exactly how petty this man is. Nothing will stop him from trolling somebody. Nothing will stop him from furthering his agenda. So it's right on brand, but if anything, he's somebody who has proven himself capable of doing this.

Elamin: I think there's something to be said about his trolling persona that he adopts online. Tayo, what was your reaction when you first heard it's going to be 50 Cent who's producing this documentary about Diddy?

Tayo: I was immediately annoyed because, like Jay said, 50 Cent is the king of trolls — but this is nothing to joke about. This is nothing to poke fun at. Also, now that I know that Netflix is involved in the conversation, I'm also a little bit curious about exactly what's going to be in it, and just how well-made this is going to be.

Elamin: I have such a deep distaste for 50's trolling. I have not found it particularly entertaining, but it's something that has drawn a lot of attention to him…. I want to separate two things out, Jay. There's 50 the troll, right? Which is to say a lot of 50 Cent's social media presence is poking fun at people, saying provocative things just to get a reaction. He's been doing this for years. But he's also made some television. He's executive producer of the hit franchise Power. The idea that 50's production company, makers of Power, are also going to make this documentary — that's a different beast. How confident are you that 50 is going to be able to separate his trolling side from his production company that's doing a well-produced and much-needed documentary about the Diddy allegations?

Jay: I think it's a very fair question to ask because like you said, we're talking about the person versus the business. I think from a professional standpoint, he's proven himself capable of taking this on as an executive producer. We know that in Hollywood, being an executive producer is kind of a nebulous term — it might mean you're actually overseeing something, it might mean you just cut a check, so you don't really know his level of involvement.

But that being said, in functioning as an executive producer, he's given us comedies with 50 Central on BET. He's given us dramas with For Life at ABC. I think people are also forgetting that he was behind Hip Hop Homicides with my guy Van Lathan. He also put out the BMF doc, Blowing Money Fast, which I was actually really impressed with. So he does have a track record that is diverse as far as comedy, dramas and also documentaries. My concern is that with the personal component in regards to Diddy's relationship with the mother of his son, if he's able to separate the two.

Elamin: I should point out at this point, Diddy has denied all the allegations against him. His lawyers have described the lawsuits as "money grabs" and "baseless." Tayo, when you look at 50's involvement with all this, and his involvement in the doc and also his reputation for being this troll, do you think there's a risk here that we overshadow the actual serious issues at play in this story?

Tayo: Oh, absolutely. And I think that it happened the second 50 Cent opened his mouth and got involved in this conversation.

Elamin: You think it's already happening?

Tayo: It's already happening. And unfortunately, it's giving me flashbacks to the moment we had with Megan Thee Stallion where it took us so long as a society to get to the point of understanding this is not a joke. People's lives have been destroyed as a result of the things that are being alleged, and that's nothing to joke about. But ultimately, I think what this is going to turn into is a pissing match between two powerful men, instead of us thinking about how do we as a society produce a Diddy? And how do we get to this point where we see all of these harms taking place?

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ryan Chung.