50 Cent -- I'm No Homophobe ... I Just Hate 'Empire'

50 Cent just learned why it's important to get the full story ... after he shared a homophobic post about "Empire" ... but he didn't read the whole thing.

A rep for 50 tells TMZ the rapper reposted a photo to his Instagram making fun at the show's decline in ratings ... but he missed the part about the drop in ratings being due to the show's "gay stuff."

50's rep says he deleted the post once he saw the homophobic comments attached to it. The rep says the comments were "not a reflection of his views at all."

50 has been beefing with the show for a while now ... mostly because he says it's inferior to his show "Power." It doesn't help that "Empire" singled him out during the season 2 premiere episode.