Topics: Diddy, Crime, Celebrity, US News, Court, Music, Sex Trafficking, Cassie Ventura
Suge Knight has spoken out about the alleged gun confrontation mentioned in the high-profile trial of Diddy.
The trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs started on Monday (May 12) after the rapper was arrested in New York last September.
The 55-year-old is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution, all of which he denies and has pleaded not guilty to.
Several witnesses have since taken to the stand to testify against the music producer since the trial began earlier this month, including Diddy's former long-term partner, Cassandra 'Cassie' Ventura, as well as his former assistants, associates and escorts.
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During Cassie's testimony on May 13, she alleged her ex-boyfriend stopped one of his controversial 'freak offs', which she said involved her having sex with male escorts, so he could confront former record executive Suge Knight.
Cassie claimed she was 'screaming and crying' in fear when the Bad Boy Records founder allegedly took multiple guns with him when searching for Knight, the head of rival Death Row Records, 17 years ago.
Now, Knight - who is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter in a fatal 2015 hit-and-run case - has spoken out about the alleged incident and the pair's long-standing feud in the peak of the 1990s hip hop 'beef'.
Speaking to TMZ on Thursday (May 22), Knight suggested he had no doubt the confrontation would have turned into a showdown with guns, saying: "If he’d have confronted me and he had a gun, you best believe he was gonna have to use it, or something was gonna happen.”
“When you’re dealing with drugs and alcohol and even fear, some people if they feel they’re scared enough, they gotta do something," he added.
"They can’t do it with their hands, so they gotta bring guns… If you got the serial number changed off, you best believe you’re going to use them."
When asked if he was also armed, Knight responded: "I was armed with my Bible. In other words, you know I’m not gonna answer that question.”
The insight comes as Combs' former assistant, David James, also testified in court about the incident in 2008.
James said the incident unravelled when he and D-Roc, one of the rapper's security guards, encountered Knight in Mel's Diner in Hollywood, where the pair had just visited to pick up food.
"I drove the silver Navigator to get cheeseburgers there. D-Roc said: 'That's motherf*cking Suge Knight'.
"He went over and said, 'What's up?' Suge didn't recognize him. D-Roc said: 'I'm Biggie's boy'," James said from the stand.
The East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry between Knight and Combs goes beyond the top dogs of the record companies, and has been heavily linked to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG, also known as Biggie Smalls, both of whom were fatally gunned down within six months of each other.
James then said he 'saw someone hand Suge Knight a gun' and they drove back to the house.
From there, he claimed: "Cassie was crying. Mr. Combs got in the vehicle. I saw three guns on his lap. I felt calm because we'd been in a silver vehicle, now a black one - they wouldn't see us coming."
He testified to the jury that when they arrived back at the diner, they noticed that Knight and his entourage had gone, but claimed Combs ordered for them to continue driving around the block to look for Suge.
Afterwards, James said he quit the company, explaining: "They offered me other positions. But I just wanted to leave - my life was at risk."
Other witnesses on the stand have so far included Cassie's mom, Regina Ventura, Danity Kane member Dawn Richard, hotel manager Frédéric Zemmour, multiple sex workers including a man referred to as 'the Punisher', and Kid Cudi, who testified about his experience dating Cassie and his car allegedly being set on fire and his home being broken into.
The trial continues.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.
