The mother of a teen involved in an altercation with Tony Yayo and his associates is speaking out against an upcoming book tour featuring the G-Unit rapper.
Yayo, born Marvin Bernard, plead guilty last month to harassing the 14-year-old, who is the son of Czar Entertainment CEO Jimmy “Henchmen” Rosemond.
As part of his sentence, the Queens rapper recently signed on to promote teen literacy in a new promotional campaign spearheaded by Glenn Toby’s Book Bank Foundation.
The boy’s mother Cynthia Reed is incensed that Tony Yayo will be presented as a role model of sorts to other teens.
“Shame on you Glenn Toby for letting Marvin Bernard’s punishment look like willful charity,” Reed said in a statement addressing the Book Bank Foundation’s founder. “Crimes against children should never be legitimized 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.”
In March of 2007, the teen was surrounded by Yayo and his associates and slapped, as he was walking to his internship at Czar Entertainment, which handles the careers of a number of rappers, including G-Unit rival The Game.
Tony Yayo was sentenced to 150 hours in community service for his role in the assault on the teen, while another associate, Lowell Fletcher, admitted that he “saw a young boy wearing a Czar Entertainment T-shirt” and proceeded to slap the boy across the face and grab at his shirt.”
Fletcher pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to nine months in prison.
Ms. Reed is preparing to protest the promotional campaign, which is set to take place throughout New York City from March 10-15.
Reed has remained vocal at every turn in her son’s case, speaking out as early as March 25, 2007, when Tony Yayo was arraigned and formally charged with assault, just five days after the original incident occurred.