The mother of the teenage son of Czar Entertainment boss Jimmy Rosemond has hit out at the community service planned for rapper Tony Yayo, who was accused of roughing up her son during an altercation in New York last year.
As previously reported, Yayo, real name Marvin Bernard, got off relatively lightly in relation to the incident by accepting a plea bargain. As part of his community service sentence Yayo will take part in a book tour designed to promote teen literacy in the US and run by the Book Bank Foundation.
But the victim's mother, Cynthia Reed, says that is inappropriate, because it sets Yayo up as a role model to the teenagers the book campaign is targeting, something Reed believes is wrong given the hip hopper's admission that he harassed her fourteen year old son. And I think she might be right.
In an open letter to the Book Bank Foundation's founder Glenn Toby, Reed said this weekend: "Shame on you Glenn Toby for letting Marvin Bernard's punishment look like willful charity. Crimes against children should never be legitimised just because a person is an entertainer. A public apology is appropriate at this time, not only from Tony Yayo but from 50 Cent for denying this event ever happened".
Reed will protest outside the New York dates of the tour this week.