Rodney Peete Jr. is making waves for all of the right reasons. The oldest son of Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete Sr. recently penned an open letter to the airport worker who was taunted by rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.
“Dear Andrew Farrell,” R.J. began. “My name is RJ Peete. We have a lot in common. I’m 18 and I have autism. You are 19 and you have autism, too. I have a lot of anxiety sometimes in public, and it can be terrible for me.”
The young adult continued, “I saw a video that 50 Cent posted making fun of you because you were different. He has, like, 8 million followers. Everyone saw it. I thought, ‘What if during my meltdown last night, I was caught on video and it got posted by someone — or a famous rapper? Then everyone would have seen me at my worst.’ I get a tight chest when I just think about it.”
R.J. went on to talk about the instance where his mom wrote a letter to 50 Cent after the rapper made a distasteful remark about autism on Twitter. “I wonder if 50 Cent knows how hard it is to have autism and be a teenager,” he said. “How my brain doesn’t always work with me. How I can feel uncomfortable in my body. How frustrating it is to be misunderstood. Called ‘stupid,’ ‘retarded.’ How hard it is to get people to give us jobs. To stand up for yourself.”
R.J. concluded his letter by encouraging Andrew to keep his head up. “I just wanted to tell you to stay positive, Andrew, and make sure you remember that we may be different, but we are still the same — and even if we are not as cool as a famous rapper, we are still dope in our own way. Like Kendrick Lamar says, ‘We gon’ be alright!'”
