Eminem is set to make an appearance in 50 Cent and Starz‘s upcoming TV series, Black Mafia Family.
According to reports, Eminem will portray the role of Rick Wershe Jr., known to most as former FBI informant White Boy Rick. “I’m honored and appreciative of my good friend Em for supporting my new show ‘BMF,’” 50 said in a statement. “We couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend that is Eminem.”
Wershe was born and raised in Detroit and was an informant for the bureau when he was 14 years old up until he was 16 years old, making him the youngest informant in the 1980s. When he was 17 years old, he was arrested for possession of eight kilograms of cocaine and was sentenced to life in prison; neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney mentioned that he was an informant when he was 14 years old. He was eventually parolled in 2017 after the case gained publicity, but he was given to U.S. Marshals and spent five years in a Florida prison for a 2008 car theft ring conviction. Wershe was finally released from custody in July 2020 and went on to sue the FBI a year after, claiming that he “would never have gotten involved with drug gangs or criminality of any sort” if he was not an informant.
Black Mafia Family premieres September 26 on Starz.
Elsewhere in entertainment, watch the trailer for Spike Lee and HBO’s forthcoming documentary, NYC EPICENTERS 9/11➔2021½.
