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Charlmagne acknowledged “a plethora of feelings” concerning the case.
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In a candid June 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Charlamagne tha God didn’t maintain again when addressing the leisure business’s sudden activate Sean “Diddy” Combs, who’s at present on trial for a lengthy checklist of sexual abuse allegations.
Talking with Rolling Stone, The Breakfast Membership host and media mogul identified the hypocrisy of Hollywood figures now distancing themselves from a person they as soon as idolized. “I can’t act prefer it’s one emotion. It’s straightforward to say, ‘Oh, man, overlook him. He’s a bit of trash,’ blah, blah, blah, this and that,” Charlamagne instructed the outlet.
“At one level that was your man”
He added, “Yeah, he is likely to be all of these issues, however guess what? He additionally was any person that each single time we was out within the social gathering, he bought the social gathering began. He was an individual that every one of y’all was operating round saying you was the Diddy of your metropolis.”
Charlamagne stated, “Don’t act such as you weren’t, now, OK? I see you altering your Instagram names and all of that, however at one level that was your man. In order that… it simply sucks to observe.”
Charlamagne’s feedback come within the wake of Diddy’s dramatic fall from grace, following a number of lawsuits, allegations of abuse, and a federal investigation into alleged misconduct stretching again a long time.
As soon as probably the most highly effective figures in music and leisure, Diddy—often known as Puff Daddy — has turn into a logo of extra and downfall. His houses had been raided by federal brokers in March 2024, and several other accusers have come ahead with disturbing allegations, prompting manufacturers and enterprise companions to chop ties.
Persons are “crashing and burning,” Charlamagne stated
In his Rolling Stone chat, Charlamagne, whose actual identify is Lenard McKelvey, didn’t defend Diddy’s actions. As an alternative, he’s highlighting a deeper fact: Hollywood and the leisure business cherished Diddy—till it didn’t.
Charlamagne stated,“You see sure brothers, man, sure sisters which were round a very long time, and I actually give them a pound and I praise them as a result of I say to them, ‘Man, your airplane has landed and the wheels got here out.’”
He defined. “All people at all times talks concerning the ascension and being up within the air, however while you land, you bought to verify your wheels come out. There’s lots of people touchdown whose wheels ain’t popping out, they usually’re crashing and burning.”
Charlamagne has lengthy been one of many media’s most outspoken voices, identified for his direct takes on tradition, race, and accountability. By The Breakfast Membership, his bestselling books, and his podcast empire, he’s turn into a number one voice in hip-hop commentary—and he’s no stranger to controversy himself.
Charlamagne: Diddy’s “advanced” when you’re a “hip-hop head”
Charlamagne additionally instructed Rolling Stone about Diddy, “It’s unhappy. And folks bought mad at me, I feel it was final yr, as a result of I stated that when it first occurred. I’m like, ‘Yo, we bought to cease performing like these conditions don’t deliver out a plethora of feelings.’
“That is advanced, particularly when you’re a hip-hop-head,” Charlamagne added. “I used to be in jail writing down issues I wished to do for my future, saying I wished to be signed to Dangerous Boy in ’96, ’97, as a result of I used to rap. And so for me, man, simply sitting again watching the scenario, yeah, it’s unhappy to observe one more considered one of us … That’s what it looks like, proper? It looks like, one other considered one of us.”
Charlamagne’s feedback echo a broader dialog occurring within the business: how fame, unchecked energy, and public loyalty can dissolve in a single day. Diddy’s decades-long reign noticed him topped the king of hip-hop enterprise, vogue, and nightlife.
The fallout from Diddy’s authorized troubles might not be over, however Charlamagne’s warning is obvious: in a world the place movie star is fleeting, the identical individuals who carry you up can simply as rapidly tear you down.