Joe Budden has defended his decision to not give commentary about the viral Diddy video, in which the embattled mogul was caught violently assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie
TMZ has obtained audio of the rapper-turned-podcaster addressing the matter directly on Saturday (May 18). There, Budden addressed the “conspiracy theories” about him being in the embattled Bad Boy mogul’s “pockets” and claimed he didn’t address the video because it lacked the “proper care” the subject matter needed.
“Do you guys ever stop to think that not everything is this deep conspiracy that y’all want it to be?” he said. “We were dead in the middle of the broadcast yesterday. I’ll put the suspense to bed.”
Check out the full audio below.
Back in November, Joe Budden explained why he remained tight-lipped about Cassie accusing Diddy of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse
“I did it for legal reasons,” he began. “I did it for a myriad of reasons. But first and foremost, the legal portion … y’all ain’t ’bout to clip me up or clip us up or clip this set up and just attach it to whatever story and narrative you wanna attach it to.”
He added: “I been on this here internet a long time before some of y’all was born out there. I know how it goes, and I know how the blog sites work on a slow weekend. I know what they do from experience because they mostly use me to do it. I don’t be trying to give them nothing.
“I be in my little hut somewhere and they go dig something up. They say that you responding to something that you not responding to. They take one piece and if they think you talking about it, they put some text to it that’s gon’ make you look and sound a certain way.”
Joe Budden went on to say that he doesn’t want any smoke with Diddy in case some of the rumors about him — such as allegedly orchestrating a plot to blow up Kid Cudi‘s car — are true.
“Two: what if that n-gga did all the shit that he’s accused of?” he said. “Why would I wanna inherit that? What if he did some of that shit, like the violent stuff? […] Sound like a headache. Don’t sound like the risk is worth the reward to me.”
Budden also said he didn’t feel it was the right time to speak on the lawsuit — which has since been “amicably” settled — as it would be “insensitive” towards Cassie.
“Three: in the event that some people did not believe all of the things that Cassie had to say in that civil suit, I don’t think the last week was a good time to say that,” he said. “That seems foul and flagrant and insensitive. That don’t seem like something a responsible broadcaster would do.”
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Finally, Budden said that Diddy is a listener of his podcast, which places even more “responsibility” on his shoulders.
“Fourth: that n-gga listens to this podcast,” he said. “It means that if you have never been on the other side of accusations and stories being put out about you, and now having to hear the news cycle of people that you know and how they report on that, there’s a responsibility that comes with that.”
He concluded: “The internet has the luxury of forming an opinion […] but right this second — I’ll speak for me — I don’t have proof that he raped somebody. I do not have proof that he sex trafficked somebody. Those are the facts.”
