Will Diddy be pardoned by President Trump? The conversation has been going on since before the embattled music mogul was convicted. Now that the Bad Boy founder has been sentenced to 50 months in prison, the conversation surrounding whether the President of the United States will release Puff has become even more dramatic.
On Monday (October 20), TMZ quoted a “senior White House official” as saying that Donald was “hesitant” to commute Diddy’s sentence. However, on Tuesday (October 21), NBC News issued a statement refuting the celebrity news site’s report.
“There is zero truth to TMZ’s reporting and we would be happy to explain this if they had contacted us before publishing the fake news,” a White House official told NBC News in a statement. “The president, not anonymous sources, is the final decision maker on pardons and commutations.”
TMZ responded that they stood by their reporting. That same day, Deadline published a report saying that sources said President Trump had cooled down on the idea of pardoning Diddy due to the potential backlash from MAGA.
Back in May, Trump left the door open to the possibility of a Diddy Pass.
“I’m going to see what’s going on,” Trump told the assembled media during a meeting in the Oval Office. “I didn’t follow it too closely. It did get a lot of press, though. I hadn’t spoken to him in years. He used to be very fond of me. I think that relationship fell apart when I ran for politics.”
“Of course I’m going to look at the facts,” Trump continued. “If I think someone is being abused, whether they like me or they don’t like me, it doesn’t make any difference.”
In July, Diddy was found guilty of two counts of traffic prostitution. On October 3, he was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison.
XXL has reached out to President Trump’s camp and Diddy’s team for comment.