Suge Knight says he didn’t have the reaction he thought he would when he first heard the news of the Diddy allegations.
In an interview with Harvey Levin for TMZ’s new The Downfall of Diddy special on Tubi, Knight, who’s currently in jail in San Diego for voluntary manslaughter, spoke sympathetically about how the allegations may affect Diddy’s family.
"My first reaction, it’s not the reaction I thought I would have when it came to Puffy," Knight said. "I though it'd be a reaction like he got what he got coming because everybody know what’s been going on. My reaction was actually different because I felt like, damn. The first thing that came to my mind was he has his sons, he has his daughters. My reaction was first about the kids. The thing is, I feel it’s a bad day for hip-hop, a bad day for the culture. Because it makes us all look bad."
When Levin expressed shock over Knight’s statement, expectedly pointing to their well-documented history, Knight asserted that he’s "not the type of guy to cheer for people’s downfall," even if said downfall involves someone with whom he has personal issues.
"I’m not the type of guy to cheer for people’s downfall," Knight added. "If somebody gets killed or something happens to them, I’m not gonna pop champagne bottles. 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."
In March, Knight said in an outtake from his Collect Call podcast that he believed Diddy's life was "in danger" following the raids of the Bad Boy Records founder's Miami and Los Angeles homes.
The wave of allegations against Diddy, recent coverage of which has largely focused on a lawsuit from Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones Jr. alleging assault and "grooming," began with last year’s quickly settled lawsuit from Cassie, Diddy’s former partner. Diddy has denied all allegations against him, saying in a statement shared to Instagram in December (seen above) that he "did not do any of the awful things being alleged."
More recently, Diddy's attorney, Shawn Holley, alleged that Lil Rod's lawsuit, specifically, was an example of someone "shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday" by way of "reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction."
TMZ's Diddy special, meanwhile, is expected to be followed by further documentaries in the coming months. One potential project on the horizon is a doc from 50 Cent, who's been frequently outspoken about Diddy on social media.
