The East Coast/West Coast battles were put to the wayside for a minute, as former hip-hop executive Suge Knight opened up about what’s currently going on with his former rival, P. Diddy. Sean Combs (AKA P. Diddy or Diddy) is currently facing major allegations of sex trafficking, and in March federal authorities raided his homes in LA and Miami. Now, his rival is sharing his thoughts on everything that's happened so far.
Knight is currently serving 28 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter after a deadly hit-and-run in 2015, per The Guardian, and he spoke to TMZ for The Downfall of Diddy documentary over the phone. Before Knight’s segment, TMZ executive producer Harvey Levin explained that “you’d think Suge Knight would be reveling in all the allegations against Diddy.” However, he has a more sympathetic take, the former Death Row executive said:
My first reaction, it’s not the reaction I thought I would have when it came to Puffy. You know what I mean? I thought it’d be a reaction, like, ‘He got what he got coming ‘cause everybody knows what’s been going on.’ My reaction was actually different, because I felt like, ‘Damn.’ The first thing that came to my mind was, you know, he has his sons, he has his daughters. My reaction at first was about the kids. And the thing is, I feel it’s a bad day for hip hop, it’s a bad day for the culture, because it makes us all look bad.
While Suge Knight and Diddy have been longtime rivals, the CEO of Death Row Records has empathy for the rapper’s current situation. Following the raid of his mansions, which reportedly involved the rapper’s kids having lasers pointed at them, many have commented on everything that’s going on with Diddy, however, according to Knight, overall all this is “a bad day for the culture.”
Given the two’s history, the TMZ producer explained that he was shocked by this statement. He then followed it up by asking what had changed between Suge Knight and Diddy. To that point, the former exec had the following to say about “Puffy,” (the nickname he has for the rapper who has changed his name many times):
I’m not the type of guy to cheer for people’s downfall. And if somebody get killed or something happen to them, I’m not going to pop champagne bottles. And if I have a problem with Puffy, that’s for him and I to sit down in a room and resolve it. So, for the tragedy on both sides, to the victims, to him, that’s definitely not nothing to cheer about.
Right now, Diddy is facing allegations of trafficking, assault and rape, and there are several lawsuits that have been filed against him. When asked if he had an idea of the allegations Knight said:
I don’t think Cassie’s a liar, because we know what type of stuff goes on. And I just say it like this, I don’t think Puffy needs to be destroyed or hung or put to death. I think that Puffy, or if it’s me or anybody else, we should be able to tell our truth. By telling our truth we can’t change the past, but we can help the present and we can help the future. So if Puffy tells his story uncut it can help everyone.
Finally, when questioned about some people staying silent about what’s going on with Diddy, Knight said it might be because they are doing similar things. He made the point that he thinks those people don’t want to open an even bigger can of worms and reveal themselves, which is why they probably haven’t spoken out.
However, along with Knight, many have shared their thoughts on P. Diddy, what he’s going through, and their own relationships with him. For example, Conor McGregor said the rapper was “on the bottom of the list of people [he] wanted to meet.” Tanika Ray, who was a backup dancer for Diddy, also said she “knew to avoid him at all costs” while working for him, and that what’s happening to him is not surprising.
This investigation into these very serious allegations against Diddy is ongoing. As we learn more and more people share their takes on what’s happening, we’ll keep you posted.
