Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and “Power” creator Courtney Kemp gave their thoughts as to why their Starz series consistently gets overlooked by critics and for major awards.
“People who are connected to these ceremonies and voting are not necessarily cool people,” 50 Cent said during the show’s session Friday at the Television Critics Association press tour. He added that on some level there is a racial undercurrent to the show being overlooked. “I’d like to say it’s racial. That’s the easy way to get out of things. I just think that they’re overlooking it.”
He explained further that since critics have so many shows to watch and review, it’s easy to get overlooked. “Sometimes you don’t appreciate some of the good things because sometimes you see so much.” But 50 Cent, who compared “Power” getting overlooked to Grammy voters passing him over, thinks he’ll get the last laugh when it’s all over. “When we’re done with it, they’ll be looking around saying yea we f–ked up again.”
The series, which will end its run with its upcoming sixth season, has never been nominated for an Emmy Award. The network announced on Friday that Mary J. Blige will star in its first spinoff after the show ends.
Kemp added that it was difficult in the first few years to get overlooked. “I thought we were doing something new and fresh and I was hoping that the Emmy voters would take notice, and then they didn’t. You just accept it and move on,” she said. “We’ve been winning Image Awards now for quite some time, so it feels as though our core audience really does love and respect the show. Not every show gets all of the attention in the order that it deserves.”