50 Cent's billboards pulled down after protests
Billboards advertising 50 Cent's new film, the Jim-Sheridan-directed Get Rich Or Die Tryin', are set to be removed in Los Angeles communities, following complaints that they glorify gun violence.
One poster shows the In Da Club rapper stripped to the waist in a crucifixion-like pose with his tattooed, bullet-scarred back to the camera and arms outstretched, holding a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich sent a letter to distributor Paramount Pictures urging that the billboards be removed, starting with one outside an Altadena school, which had recently campaigned to curb gang activity in the neighbourhood.
On Wednesday, activists in the south Los Angeles neighbourhood of Hyde Park staged a rally calling on Paramount to remove the billboards from the city.
The semi-autobiographical movie, which is set to open on November 9, follows 50 Cent playing a drug dealer who abandons his criminal lifestyle to pursue a music career.
