Joe Budden Fires Rory and Checks Mal on 'The Joe Budden Podcast' (UPDATE)

In an intense and passionate episode that was briefly widely available on Wednesday, Budden said Rory was fired from the show and detailed his issues.

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UPDATED 5/14, 10:45 a.m. ET: Mal has also responded to his dismissal from the Joe Budden Podcast.

On Thursday, the now-former co-host let off a series of cryptic tweets, the first of which read, “The lies are always loud. The truth is always quiet. I promise you.”

He then wrote, “Black people love to discredit one another. It’s a disease that kills our community.” Later, he added, “I’ve been cool and quiet for too long. I’m allowed to get out of character for at least an hour. Maybe 40 mins. The truth is usually short and simple.”

See more of Mal’s tweets here:

UPDATED 5/13, 10:20 a.m. ET: Rory Farrell responded after being fired from The Joe Budden Podcast, promising to reveal details about how things really went down sometime “soon.”

“Mannn..what an era..thank you to everyone that listened, supported, told their friends about us, bought a subscription, ticket, or merch..any value starts & ends with y’all,” he tweeted. “I’ll get to that messy shit soon but in the meantime I’m here to celebrate an amazing run!! Love.”

See original story below.

Joe Budden told fans of his podcast on Wednesday that it’s been a “helluva run” amid rumors about the show’s future with Rory and Mal.

In an episode of his podcast that appeared on multiple platforms on Wednesday before being removed, Budden first updated fans on where he stands with regards to the rumored personal issues between Rory and DJ Akademiks, the latter of whom previously hosted Everyday Struggle with Budden and Nadeska Alexis.

“It’s all about the timing of the universe,” Budden said around 19 minutes into the episode, which he’s since noted will now live on Patreon. “Fortunately for Ak, when I left Complex, that gave him more leverage and he knows that. That’s stick-up time. ‘Everything Joe wanted, I want it too.’ So, no, he’s not leaving such a beautiful situation but Ak has seen me when I was doubtful of information. Ak has seen me when it was me against the company. Ak has seen me when it was me against him, me against Nadeska. … He’s able to read the fucking tea leaves, man, and that’s an important piece.”

Nowadays, Budden said, there’s a “mutual respect” between himself and Akademiks. As for Rory, Budden claimed their relationship was altered after Rory took issue with Budden still having contact with Akademiks. Budden—who said he doesn’t know Akademiks “to be a liar”—also noted he had suspicions of Rory having sent people to Akademiks’ home.

In one clip from the interview, embedded below, Budden says he’s fired Rory.

“Rory feels like he has so many options here, somehow he still feels like he’s running the show [and] he still feels like he has choices and options, he feels like he’s entitled to more,” Budden said. “Rory, you are in breach of your contract. And from this point forward, you are fired and you are not welcome back.”

Budden, around 22 minutes in, also spoke on a recent podcast in which Rory and Mal returned to the show after a break. That episode was important, according to Budden, because he had a “six-week window” to speak to the audience and he felt it was “important” for Rory and Mal to have a chance to say what they wanted to say.

View this video on YouTube

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Deeper into the new episode in question, around one hour and 27 minutes in, Budden spoke on the importance of chemistry in his work.

“That’s the stuff that I be trying to explain to the suits. … The creatives understand chemistry,” he said. “I wanted to say to them, ‘Yo, dawg, I don’t know what’s going on right now but the chemistry ain’t there.’”

According to Budden, he considered Rory a behind-the-scenes “liability.” Joe also encouraged both Rory and Mal to start their own show, albeit without what he called the “Joe Budden starter pack.”

Elsewhere, Budden lamented what he said was Rory and Mal’s failings to bring in deals for the podcast and criticized them for allegedly having their respective reps request to see documents related to the show.

Fans have been inquisitive over the status of Rory and Mal on the show following their break from appearances earlier this year. Given Budden’s recent comments, it appears those relationships have been severed for the time being.

While Rory and Mal hadn’t responded to these latest developments at the time of this writing, Budden has addressed the brewing discourse in a number of tweets:

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