Joe Budden has defended his decision not to comment on the viral Diddy video in which the embattled tycoon was caught violently attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassie
TMZ obtained audio of the rapper-turned-podcaster speaking directly about the incident on Saturday (May 18). There, Bardem addressed “conspiracy theories” about him being in the “pocket” of the embattled bad boy mogul and claimed he didn’t mention the video because it lacked the “proper care” the subject required.
“Have you ever thought that everything is not as you hoped and that it is a profound conspiracy?” he said. “We died on the air yesterday. I’ll leave the suspense at bay.
Check out the full audio below.
Back in November, Joe Budden explained why he was tight-lipped about Cassie’s accusations of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse against Diddy.
“I’m doing this for legal reasons,” he began. “I do this for a lot of reasons. But first and foremost, the legal part… you’re not going to cut me out, or cut us out, or cut this setup out, and then attach it to whatever you want to attach story and narrative.
He added: “I’ve been around the internet a long time before some of you were born. I know how things work and I know how blogging sites work on slow weekends. I Know from experience what they do because they mostly use me for that and what I don’t want to give them.
“I was in my cabin and they went to dig up something. They said you responded to something you didn’t respond to. They took a piece and if they thought you were talking about it, they would add to it Some words that make you look and sound a certain way.
Joe Budden went on to say that he didn’t want to smoke a cigarette with Diddy in case some of the rumors about him – like an alleged plot to blow up Little Cady’s car – were true.
“Second: What if that black man did everything he was accused of?” he said. “Why should I inherit it? What if he did something like violence? […] Sounds like a headache. To me, it sounds like the risk isn’t worth the reward.
Baden also said he didn’t think now was the right time to speak out about the lawsuit – which has now been “amicably” resolved – because it would be “insensitive” to Casey.
“Third: If there are some people who don’t believe everything that Casey said in the civil lawsuit, I don’t think last week was a good time to say that,” he said. “This seems dirty, blatant and insensitive. It doesn’t seem like something a responsible broadcaster would do.
Finally, Bardem said having Diddy as a listener to his podcast puts more “responsibility” on his shoulders.
“Fourth: That n-gga listen to this podcast,” he said. “What that means is that if you’ve never been on the other side of accusations and stories about you and now have to listen to the news cycle of people you know and how they report this, there’s a kind of responsibility” .
He concluded: “The Internet can form an opinion […] But right now – and I will speak for myself – I have no proof that he raped someone. I have no evidence that he sex trafficked someone. These are all facts.