Cam’ron recently hit back a CNN reporter after she continually pressed him for an answer on the recent allegations against Diddy.
In a recent interview that went viral, Cam’ron was interviewed by CNN anchor Abby Phillip to promote his sports podcast It Is What It Is, which he hosts with former Bad Boys Records signee Ma$e.
With the Harlem rapper as a pivotal figure in late ’90s and early ’00s gangsta rap, Phillip asked him about the recently surfaced 2016 hotel CCTV footage that circulated online this week, showing fellow New York rap legend Diddy assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
“Everything in the video is egregious, I’m against,” he said on NewsNight. “I don’t support all the charges alleged against him. I don’t support any of that trafficking of minors or domestic violence – I’m totally against it. So when I saw the video, I was kinda upset being that I know him.”
He clarified afterwards that he wasn’t friends with the rap mogul.
When Phillip reiterated the question, Cam’ron seemed perplexed: “What do you mean did I recognise him? I seen him and I thought it was disgusting, I didn’t do a zoom-in to see if it was really him or nothing, but he admitted it was him so yeah, it was him.”
Afterwards, the journalist asked the ‘Oh, Boy’ rapper how he felt about Diddy’s subsequent public apology for his “inexcusable” actions in the 2016 video.
“The apology ain’t for me, it’s for Cassie,” Cam’ron responded. “He ain’t do nothing for me. What I think about it don’t matter. You need to ask Cassie if she accepts the apology. I said what I said.”
Phillip replayed a video from Cam’ron and Ma$e’s podcast, where the former asked why the ‘Mo Money, Mo Problems’ rapper took him to The Notorious B.I.G. instead of Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. Ma$e replied: “Being that I saw you as a good friend, I wanted you with somebody I knew. Instantly I knew Biggie would do right by you.”
Phillip then asked if Cam’ron could talk more about what was discussed in the clip, particularly if “there’s something known in the industry about how Diddy treated his artists”.
After promoting his libido supplement drink PinkHorsePower, he answered Phillip, telling her: “I don’t really know Puff [Diddy] like Ma$e knows Puff”. The fellow Harlem star was signed to Bad Boy Records from 1996 to 2010.
He continued: “I appreciate what Ma$e said and, of course, that’s my brother so if he felt that way, he felt that way. I can’t really tell you how Puff moves, Mase would know better than me. For me to tell you about how Diddy acts, I don’t know. I was never signed to him.”
Cam’ron then started to promote his podcast before Phillip continued to ask him about the music industry and people in high places were “protecting” Combs.
This led to the rapper snapping: “Who’s the talent agent for this joint? You think I be sitting around watching what Diddy do? I didn’t know this was a Diddy joint that y’all invited me to. Who booked me for this joint? Fuck they invite me on CNN for?”
Phillip then mispronounced the rapper’s moniker as she thanked him for his time. Watch the full interview below.
So Cam’ron went on CNN tonight and it was an absolute disaster pic.twitter.com/xm3tCe9O7N
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 21, 2024
Diddy has been hit with several lawsuits accusing him of physical and sexual abuse. Last November, Ventura filed a case against him alleging that the rapper-producer raped, assaulted and sex-trafficked her. The two parties settled the suit a day after it was filed.
A week after Ventura’s filing, two more allegations were brought against the ‘Bad Boy For Life’ star. One claimed Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her. The other alleged the multi-millionaire and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping the plaintiff and her friend in 1990 or 1991 – with Diddy turning violent days later.
Diddy denied all allegations against him in December, saying, “I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Earlier this year, Combs was sued by producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones for coercing him to have sex with prostitutes, drugging and threatening him, and having parties where underage girls and sex workers were present, some of whom he said were provided with laced drinks.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs continues to deny all the allegations made against him.
In March, Diddy’s homes in Miami and LA were raided by US Homeland Security as a part of a sex trafficking investigation.
In other news, 50 Cent commented on Diddy’s apology video, saying: “This is not going to work, who is advising him right now? SMH bad move.”
Meanwhile, Cassie’s husband Alex Fine shared a statement in response to the 2016 abuse footage, writing: “Men who hit women aren’t men. Men who enable it and protect those people aren’t men.”