WASHINGTON – When 50 Cent announced that part of the proceeds from his new energy drink would be used to help fight hunger in Africa, some questioned whether his motives were genuine.

But the rapper says he’s making a difference, and since a visit to the continent earlier this month, he’s a changed man.

“It enlightened me in different ways,” 50 Cent said. “To actually see people under the circumstances that I saw was a totally different experience. I don’t think you can prepare yourself for that, no matter how many times you’ve seen the images.”

The rapper-turned-humanitarian flew to Kenya and Somalia with the World Food Program to witness the effects of hunger firsthand. He has a goal to provide 1 billion meals to hungry children over the next five years. Every purchase of Street King, an energy drink the rapper promotes and launched last fall, will provide a meal for a person in need through the United Nations’ program. So far, the rapper says he’s provided more than 3.5 million meals.

50 Cent said he was touched by the children he visited in Nairobi, the capitol of Kenya.

“They have one meal a day, the same meal every day,” he said. “There’s nothing there – within their eyes and the way that they interacted with each other – that would indicate that they feel deprived in any way. They are the exact kids that you would see here, and that was so confusing. It made you want to pick them up and take them home with you, but you can’t…. So you have to do something that makes a difference.”

The rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, hopes to influence his peers in the entertainment industry and other young entrepreneurs to create a similar business model that gives back a percentage to charities.

But while art often imitates life, don’t look for a softer side to his rap, which has depicted gritty street life. 50 Cent said he will always follow his grandmother’s advice: “Just don’t forget why they liked you to begin with.”

Mary Jo Buttafuoco marries print shop manager

NEW YORK – Mary Jo Buttafuoco, who was shot in the head by former “Long Island Lolita” Amy Fisher in 1992, has tied the knot in Las Vegas.

The Daily News reports that the 57-year-old Buttafuoco wed Stu Tendler, a 53-year-old Queens-born print shop manager.

The weekend wedding was held at the Always & Forever chapel.

Fisher was sent to prison for seven years for shooting Buttafuoco, the wife of her former lover, Joey Buttafuoco.

Mary Jo Buttafuoco underwent several surgeries for partial paralysis on one side of her face and loss of hearing in one ear.

Her ex-husband, who was twice Fisher’s age, served time in prison for statutory rape for having sex with a 16-year-old.

Young arrested trying to crash Oscars party

LOS ANGELES – Actress Sean Young was arrested after a scuffle with a security guard at the official post-Oscars party, police said.

Young, 52, was placed under citizen’s arrest at the Governors Ball at 9:25 p.m. Sunday after the dispute, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. “She was trying to get into the party and couldn’t get in,” he said.

Young, who has starred in “Blade Runner” and “Stripes,” was booked at the Hollywood police station for investigation of misdemeanor battery. She posted $20,000 bail and was released early Monday.

The actress was taken into custody quickly, said Tom Januszewski, an Associated Press business executive who witnessed the incident.

The actress tried to crash the Vanity Fair Oscar party in 2006. She entered rehabilitation for alcohol abuse in 2008 after she was removed from the Directors Guild of America awards.