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As we previously reported, hip hop mogul Irv Gotti passed away on Wednesday at the age of 54.
While no official cause of death has been given, Gotti had been battling health issues, including complications from a major stroke he suffered in 2024.
In the hours after news of his passing went public, countless members of the hip hop community paid loving tribute to Gotti — but one notorious provocateur couldn’t resist the opportunity to stir the pot.
A Longstanding Beef
Back in the late ’90s and early 2000s, when they were both at the height of their fame, the feud between Gotti and 50 Cent developed into something far more serious than a professional rivalry.
50 famously beefed with Ja Rule — the flagship artist of Gotti’s Murder Inc. record label — and the simmering tension bubbled over into violence on more than one occasion.
So many were not surprised when 50 jokingly celebrated Gotti’s death. But others were flat-out appalled.
“I’m smoking on dat Gotti pack, nah God bless him LOL,” 50 captioned an Instagram photo in which he could be seen smoking hookah next to a tombstone.
In case there was any doubt to whom 50 was referring, he posted a photo of Gotti in the second slide.
50’s ‘Joke’ Receives Major Backlash
“Death is nothing to play with be careful, God watching you !!” one Instagram user commented, according to Page Six.
“Mocking someone that passed away is evil work,” another added.
“This is wrong,” a third chimed in, while a fourth labeled 50 a “disgusting person.”
According to The Mirror, musician Hitta Slim slammed 50 as “a real life Villain from the Movies” and said he’d “never seen him give a pass,” referring to the rapper’s tendency to hold onto old grudges.
But others defended the rapper, with many noting that Gotti showed little concern — and allegedly even celebrated — when 50 was shot nine times back in May of 2000.
50’s Defenders
“I have no dog in this fight, but Yall forget they tried to blackball this man in the industry, and the n–a was rolling with the n–a that literally tried to kill him. How do yall want this man to react,” one user noted.
Others went so far as to accuse Gotti of playing a role in the attack on 50.
“IRV tried to k!ll him but 50 outlived him! God is undefeated,” YouTuber Nino Brown argued.
“[Gotti] wanted 50 dead at one point… don’t tell that man how to feel,” another commenter wrote.
Numerous celebrities have paid tribute to Gotti, including , Ja Rule, Jamie Foxx, and Kanye West.
But clearly, there’s no love lost between 50 and Irv — even in death.