Fat Joe says he knows the Video Music Awards aren't the right place to be exchanging salvos with 50 Cent, but he didn't plan it that way.
"I had no intentions of going to the VMAs and starting no drama," Joe said Monday in Miami. "This Joe.MTV shows me love. I come to these events to have a good time. I never had any type of incidents before.
a certain point, what do you do?"
While introducing the acts for the reggaeton performance, Joe joked that the G-Unit brought tons of police with them. Later, during 50's set, the leader of the G-Unit retaliated by calling Joe a "pu---."
What the audience at home didn't see was that during the commercial break before the reggaeton set, 50 got up from his seat and started walking the house, going up in the stands, down to the floor, slapping five to attendees like Jay-Z and Diddy's kids and even stood several feet from Joe, leaving everyone bewildered. All this was done moments before Joe was shown on-air. The Terror Squad Don said Fif's action were blatantly meant to taunt him.
"He's up in the stands waving at me," Joe explained. "Then he's walking around, and when I'm waiting to introduce the reggaeton dudes, he gets on the stage. I'm thinking, 'OK, we're about to fight.' I'm like, 'We're about to get it on right here at the VMAs?' "
During the live broadcast, viewers could also hear members of the G-Unit yelling at Joe while he was onstage.
"I said what I said because there's only so much you can take," Joe explained. "This guy is jumping onstage and nobody said anything to him. He did 'Piggy Bank,' I made my record ['My 44'] and said I'm out of it. I'm done. Then you have Tony Yayo trying to dis me every chance he gets. 50 is making music videos about me (see "50 Mocks Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Game, Nas In 'Piggy Bank' Video"). What am I supposed to do? I have to defend myself. I was trying not to pay them no mind, until he jumped on the stage."
Joe said he anticipated there might be some friction between himself and the G-Unit, so he stayed out of the audience for most of the show