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Ja Rule Took An Internet ‘L’ with Greek Commercial

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Ja Rule has been taking some ‘L’s’ these past few years. However, this morning he is trending and it is for all the wrong reasons.

In a clip that looks straight out of the early nineties public access channel programming, Rule acts as a pitchman for Papa Cristo’s Greek Grill in Los Angeles.

According to CNN, Rule said he made the video with the hope of helping a small business amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also created the video for the new TBS reality show, “Celebrity Show-Off,” where stars compete to see whose “most compelling home videos” can rack up the most YouTube views.

In the video, he mispronounces the items on the Greek menu and is seen wearing no shoes doing a popular dance.

What in the Jeffrey Atkins?

Many celebrities and hip hop artists have stepped their promotional game up due to a lack of touring from the COVID-19 pandemic. The entire concert industry has gone dark and those who thug it out like D.L. Hughley have contracted COVID-19 from performing.

Notably, rapper Boosie BadAzz revealed that he made several thousand dollars during quarantine doing features, music video appearances and more.

However, Ja Rule is careening down a different rabbit hole altogether.

His reputation took a tremendous hit after the doomed Fyre Festival that he was the face of. It is now considered the biggest music festival disaster in history. Founder Billy McFarland is currently serving a six-year prison sentence.

The 43-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Jeffrey Atkins, was recently dropped from a $100 million class-action suit against Fyre Festival organizers.

Ja Rule has tried all kinds of commercial endeavors since the debacle, but he’s had a harder time clearing his name in the court of public opinion. The video reeks of desperation during a time when that is very feasible if you are an entertainer.

Cue up 50 Cents classic “Wanksta” which was an entire song devoted to shaming Ja Rule when he was at the top of his game. Paired with other diss records and disrespectful actions, Ja Rule and his Murder Inc. crew were virtually cancelled from the music business.

Now it seems that Rule is experiencing the later end of his entertainment career, shilling out his gruff vocals for gyro promos instead of radio hits.

Twitter the Merciless

Of course Twitter has no mercy and they went in on him expeditiously, to borrow a T.I. quotable.

You are not sure whether to laugh or shake your head at the direction Ja Rule has taken his career. It is enlightening about the length of time a celebrity has to cash in on his or her fame. Through COVID-19 and the following protest movement, celebrities are not essential.

This is a first in a country where celebrities have ruled popular thought with impunity but one must remember who supports them: the people.

When the world is focused on eradicating systemic racism, no one wants to shake their ass. When people are being killed by police, the last thing anyone is thinking about is how hot your record is or isn’t.

If Ja Rule was smart, he would have joined the world and jumped on the human rights and social justice movement. During this time, people are paying close attention to any actions that seem disparaging to people of color.

Rule’s promo is all buffoonery and his timing couldn’t be worse. Poor production aside, it is just a bad look to be hawking local Mediterranean cuisine during a pandemic and Black Lives Matter protest movement.

But Ja Rule’s latest gaffe is a cautionary tale to all celebrities that the world is not concerned with your artistry but very in tune to your idiocy.

Bottom line: don’t be like Ja Rule.

 

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