The light-hearted feud between 50 Cent and boxer Floyd Mayweather took an ugly turn on Friday when a radio show released audio of Mayweather struggling to read.
50 (birth name: Curtis Jackson) poked fun at Mayweather on Thursday by choosing him for an "ALS/ESL Challenge."
To complete the tongue-in-cheek challenge, Mayweather would need to post a video of him reading a page from a Harry Potter book. Jackson said if Mayweather came through, he would donate $750,000 to a charity of Mayweather's choice, according to FashionNStyle.
Then, Jackson offered another barb and told Mayweather that the boxer could go on Jimmy Kimmel's show and read The Cat In The Hat instead.
Instead of quickly fading, the story gained traction, and came to the attention of the crew working at The Breakfast Club, a hip-hop oriented radio show on Power 105. DJ Charlamagne Tha God surprised listeners with an audio recording of Mayweather attempting to read a radio "drop" (promo) last spring.
Charlamagne read the prompt to show what Mayweather was trying to read:
"I'm Floyd Mayweather and I've joined I Heart Radio for The Show Your Stripes movement to support hiring vets. Go to showyourstripes.org, a website that connects veterans with employees and helps business find canidates with the best training."
Then he played the tape, and the results weren't pretty. Mayweather struggled to recite the short paragraph, and one of the other DJs eventually called for an end to the clip.
Charlamagne quickly defended himself.
"I need to know," he said. "Maybe 50 was on to something."
Asked by his colleague about a bunch of merchandise Mayweather had gifted to Charlamage in the past, the DJ rebuffed.
"I got nothing but respect for Floyd Mayweather," he said. "He's the greatest defensive fighter of all time. But I got a show to do. I gotta sell tickets, too, baby. Okay? Just like he likes to put on a show, I like to put on a show, too. This is for our listeners' benefit. Alright?"
You can listen to the Mayweather section of the show here.
