Yes, more Suge Knight. The outspoken former mogul-turned-inmate is once again shaking up the conversation from behind prison walls, this time with a surprising take on the legal storm surrounding Sean “Diddy” Combs. In a recent appearance on Laura Coates Live: Diddy on Trial, the former Death Row Records head shared his thoughts with CNN’s Laura Coates, speaking from a federal facility in San Diego.
Suge and Diddy have had a long and well-documented rivalry; Knight showed an unexpected side during the interview. Reflecting on the serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges facing the Bad Boy mogul, Suge showed some empathy despite their past.
“I mean, anytime somebody is fighting for their life and they have kids, you still got to show some type of, you know, sympathy for them,” Suge said. “He might have allegedly did a lot of things but I don’t want to see the children locked up, you know.”
You might have heard that Knight’s name resurfaced during the trial when singer Cassie Ventura testified about a 2008 incident in Los Angeles. She recalled Diddy allegedly grabbing weapons and searching for Suge after learning he was nearby. “I was crying,” Cassie said on the stand. “I was screaming, ‘Please don’t do anything stupid.’”
Get this, Suge also commented on the disturbing party scenes described during the trial. He said the behavior reflected what he saw when artists began crossing over to major labels. “Once you open that door up and play with the devil, you’re going to become the devil,” he stated.
Even while criticizing Diddy’s leadership style at Bad Boy, Suge seemed to believe the charges might not stick. “Once you start trying to be the star, that’s when the problem come in,” he said. But he also added a bold prediction: “If Puffy get convicted, Trump’s going to pardon him,” pointing to the former president’s history of controversial clemencies.
Here’s what Suge said about Diddy taking the stand: “He just have his faith in God, pull up his pants and go up there and tell his truth.”