Ashanti has finally addressed the comments Irv Gotti made on a notorious episode of Drink Champs.
At the 7:00 mark of the latest episode of Angie Martinez’s podcast, Ashanti confirmed she made the decision to not participate in Gotti’s recent Murder Inc. Records documentary. “I think the world can see why,” she said when asked about her choice to not get involved, despite being an important part of the label’s history. “They definitely reached out. It’s a lot to consume. For the record, I love Murder Inc., you know, all the guys. I’m cool with everyone, it’s all love. It’s very unfortunate how Irv decided to handle his documentary.”
The Murder Inc Story aired on BET earlier this year across five episodes, and Ashanti only appeared in it through the use of archival footage. “It’s a little sad to see a grown man conduct himself in that manner,” she continued. “I feel like the Murder Inc. legacy is so much bigger, and we accomplished so much and made amazing history. I feel like the way that he handled it tarnished and cheapened the brand.”
She said that she’s only seen a “little bit” of various episodes of the documentary, and that she’s “absolutely” seen clips of Gotti’s Drink Champs interview. “My phone was going crazy, texts from exes and everything,” she laughed. “It wasn’t surprising to me, to an extent, because I’ve accepted a long time ago that that’s the person that he is. But now the world is seeing… I feel like Irv is mentally not in a good place, you know?”
Ashanti described Gotti as “narcissistic” and “selfish,” and suggested that he’s shown signs of being “hurt.” Asked if she ever had a romantic relationship with him, she suggested that he might’ve seen what was going on between them as something entirely different to how she saw it. “Irv has flat-out lied about a lot of things,” she said at the 14:40 mark. “The crazy thing is, like, when we were in a good space, a positive space, pillow talk is a dangerous thing.”
Ultimately, Ashanti said she doesn’t want to “expose” anything, but suggested that Gotti feels frustrated because he no longer has “control” over her. “I hate when he tells a story about, ‘Ashanti’s not loyal, and she didn’t support during the trial,’” she continued. “Clearly you see me at the trial. Clearly you see me on every single newspaper. I was shooting John Tucker Must Die in Canada… and legally, in my contract, I was not allowed to leave the country. I left, like, three, four times. We weren’t even speaking at that time. But I left, because I was supportive.”
She later said that Gotti was “salty” when he found out she was dating Nelly, and prohibited her from coming to the studio to record as a result. “Irv was telling everyone not to record with me,” she said. “How can I stay in that situation? You know what he said to me? ‘Nah, you want to be with Nelly, go sign to Derrty ENT, we don’t want you.’ What am I supposed to do?” She described his behavior as “weird,” and said she considered Murder Inc. a family up until that point. Despite their issues, Ashanti maintained that she has “always” given him credit for what he’s done for her career.
Watch the full episode of the podcast above.
