Latest / Luke Thomas Gets Political (LTGP) / Did Diddy Put a Hit on Tupac? The REAL Evidence

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Did Diddy Put a Hit on Tupac? The REAL Evidence · Luke Thomas Gets Political (LTGP)

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  In terms of the work you have done which
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  revolved more around uh EE NWA or the
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  original gangsters as you indicated to
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  what extent did that dovetail with some
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  of this? Obviously there is a west coast
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  connection a pretty profound one but
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  like for example what would be one area
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  of overlap that you oh I recognize that
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  from the work I've done.
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  >> Well the murder of Tupac is the biggest
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  one and um you know there's been some
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  competing theories about who killed
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  Tupac for a lot of years. One of them is
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  totally wrong and one is is on the money
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  and I think they really focused on the
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  one that's correct and that's the one in
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  which Diddy is sort of entangled with
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  it. So I thought they did a good job
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  with that.
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  >> Okay. So let's sort of kind of start
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  there. And when I say I have mixed
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  feelings about it, um this is this is
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  what I mean which is it is pretty
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  clearly the case that Diddy's a bad guy.
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  The only question is like how bad,
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  right? like in what manifest ways is he
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  bad? Because what's really interesting
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  about his life and I think the
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  documentary speaks to this is that he
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  doesn't there's not just like a trail of
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  people who were hurt in his wake. It's
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  all like his inner circle, right? Like
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  everybody who was close to the guy has
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  been pained or wrong. So he's like he's
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  obviously terrible. It's really not
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  about that. But there's like something
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  that's been nagging at me about this
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  thing. So you you bring up the Tupac
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  docu or uh uh claims. One of them is, as
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  you indicated, that Diddy's involved.
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  So, we'll talk about another guy that I
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  have questions about, but Jeff Pearlman,
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  um, you might know him. He has a new
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  book out on the death of or the life, I
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  should say, of Tupac. And in it, he said
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  he he put out a TikTok not long ago, a
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  few days ago, and he said, "Listen, the
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  documentary is great, but one of the
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  things they try to say is that Diddy
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  tried to say, I've got this
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  million-dollar bounty on these guys, and
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  I'll pay you after the fact." and he
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  said he had interviewed gang member
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  after gang member after gang member and
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  none of them said that that was ever a
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  way that they would ever do business and
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  he just feels like it was one of those
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  situations where the guy who snatched
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  the chain uh was in the wrong place at
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  the wrong time and then he got revenge
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  on Tupac later. How do you disentangle
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  or or understand the evidence for
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  Diddy's involvement with respect to what
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  the claims were made in the in the
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  documentary or any other kind of
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  corroborating piece of evidence?
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  Yeah, it's definitely the AAMS razor
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  theory that um this guy Orlando Anderson
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  who was stomped out at the MGM Grand
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  Casino by Tupac and his his group um
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  then in the heat of the moment basically
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  got together with his fellow Compton
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  Crips and then they came and killed
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  Tupac. That that stands to reason. Um so
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  now what was Titty Diddy's involvement?
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  Um, did did he offer a million dollars
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  for the uh killing of Tupac and Suge?
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  $500,000 each. That's the claim of this
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  informant um the the police detective um
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  Greg Kading is interviewed about it in
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  the docky series. Now, this informant um
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  had a reason to to cooperate. you know,
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  he was bargaining for his own uh you
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  know, well-being and freedom. So, that's
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  the kind of thing where this idea that
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  Diddy said, "I'll give you a million
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  dollars to kill these guys." That's
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  basically like a he said, he said sort
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  of thing. We can't really corroborate
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  that with with other evidence. But there
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  are a lot of people who have said that
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  Diddy went um in this era where things
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  were heating up the east coast, west
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  coast um that he wanted them dead. You
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  know, he wanted those guys heads. And
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  there have been numerous people that
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  have said they heard Diddy say that with
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  their own ears. So that part I'm I'm
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  pretty confident about. You know, I'm
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  pretty confident that Diddy wanted them
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  dead. I'm pretty confident that he would
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  have, you know, really tried to make
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  this happen if he could. But if he
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  offered a million dollars that
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  if he offered a million dollars and if
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  that directly led to the killing of
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  Tupac, that I'm not as sure about.
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  >> I see. Okay. What What is your sense
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  about why
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  at the time at which Diddy's life came
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  undone? Right. So right when this
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  documentary crew essentially is there
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  doing the last few days of it, why did
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  it all come to an end there? I mean I
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  understand that the weight of these
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  investigations had happened but there is
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  a timeline about like how long he was
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  able to skate or beat the justice system
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  or beat it within it. Like what is your
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  sense about why when things finally did
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  unravel it was happening at that
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  particular juncture in time?
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  >> I think it's a case of public opinion.
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  you know, it's similar to Harvey
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  Weinstein and and even Bill Cosby. You
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  know, there were rumblings about this
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  stuff they did for so many years. Um,
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  but then why at that exact moment did
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  did things change for them? And I think
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  with Diddy, it's uh it's the same thing.
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  Um, I think the video with Cassie in the
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  hotel and him him beating her up um
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  really was so stark that no one could
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  ignore it any longer. And I think that
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  sort of allowed everyone else to have
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  the uh kind of courage to come out of
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  the woodwork.
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  >> It's remarkable, right, that you've got
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  these powerful figures in this
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  particular case, the entertainment
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  industry. And what you begin to realize
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  is like they are sinister, right, in
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  ways that you perhaps may have imagined
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  or even worse. But really what keeps
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  this alive is this downward threat to
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  every other player that's around them to
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  hold the line. And it actually turns out
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  that beating these people within the
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  justice system or without it requires
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  breaking that chain of custody and
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  protection that goes along with it. Once
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  that breaks, it actually all comes
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  undone. I wonder if that's your read on
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  on this particular situation.
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  >> Yeah. You know, I mean, um, not to be
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  cynical, but like everyone who
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  participates in a journalistic endeavor
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  like this one has their own motivations.
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  You know what I mean? like when when it
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  finally became clear that Diddy no
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  longer, you know, employed them, no
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  longer had power over them, no longer
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  could hurt them, then people are are
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  more comfortable, you know, and and the
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  people have their own suits, you know,
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  they have their own lawsuits against
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  him. They want to um, you know, win the
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  battle of public opinion. And so I think
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  all of those factors contributed here.
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  Do what what do you make of there being
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  I've seen it suggested I'm not
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  necessarily endorsing it as such but
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  I've seen it suggested that there are
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  it's kind of um I don't know if poetic
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  is not quite the right word but
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  interesting to note that Diddy is facing
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  these well he faced charges many of
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  which he did beat but there was
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  obviously he's got I think what 77 other
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  civil suits that are pending and God
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  only knows what else could happen and
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  obviously his fortunes and his fame have
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  been um certainly affected if not ruined
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  that this that this is happening at a
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  moment in time that was not too far away
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  and in fact it still captures the public
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  imagination about Jeffrey Epstein whose
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  crimes I think we would all probably
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  agree are potentially much more heinous
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  but nevertheless rich powerful figure
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  kind of an empressario in certain ways
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  not on the entertainment side of things
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  but also New York City as well do you
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  take that there being like the fact that
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  there's a reckoning in both cases one
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  slower than the other perhaps do you
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  take that that there's any kind of
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  common denominator there about what's
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  powering these efforts at at justice?
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  >> Um,
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  I don't really know. I mean, it seems
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  like the Jeffrey Epstein criminal um
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  prosecution has a lot more to work with,
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  you know. I mean, I'm sure that Diddy uh
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  broke plenty of laws and and we know he
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  did. He's been convicted of some, but
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  it's not sort of the um it's to me this
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  is playing more out in the civil courts
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  and in the the media and as I said the
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  realm of public opinion with with
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  Epstein, you know, he um
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  he he was affiliated with all these like
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  significant people of power and he was
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  famous on his own. So that makes his
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  case very appetizing to to prosecutors
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  um and Diddy the same way. So, so I
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  think they have those in common, but but
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  ultimately, you know, um Epstein and his
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  suicide and a lot of people don't think
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  it was a suicide and and is that
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  connected to protecting powerful people.
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  That's another aspect of this. Whereas,
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  you know, Diddy like he was always
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  taking video of everything. You know
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  what I mean? Like people who uh were
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  affiliated with Diddy, he he broadcast
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  them for the world. So, it's, you know,
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  it's a little different in that regard.
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  All right, getting back to Diddy here.
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  Here's sort of a basic question that the
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  that the documentary for me doesn't
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  exactly answer, which is,
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  did the prosecution in Diddy's case do a
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  bad job? Because here's what I'm coming
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  down with. They interviewed two jurors
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  in the documentary. I have to say they
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  did not come across as particularly
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  untrustworthy. the woman perhaps a
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  little bit more understanding of who
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  Diddy was at his heyday in the 90s and
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  2000s but did not come across as to me
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  like inherently unreliable and the other
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  gentleman certainly he didn't even know
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  who they were like they just did not
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  seem to me unreasonable people what went
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  wrong for that case such that it ended
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  where to your point what's ever going to
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  happen to Diddy is at this point going
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  to be at much more a civil uh kind of
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  situation than a criminal one. Well, I'm
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  not a, you know, a legal expert and so
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  it's hard for me to say, but you know,
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  with Weinstein too, he basically skated
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  on on most of this stuff as far as I can
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  understand. I think it's really hard to
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  to prove stuff like this. And um, you
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  know, that's that's about all I can say.
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  I don't know what the prosecution really
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  could have done differently. [snorts]
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  >> Um, okay, fair enough. to to your point
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  or to to the question,
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  is your read the same as mine that the
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  jurors came across as for the most part
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  pretty reasonable?
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  >> Yeah, I do agree with that. Yeah.
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  >> All right. Very good. Um, can we talk
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  about the state of hip-hop journalism as
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  someone who's contributed to it? It's a
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  really interesting moment where
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  journalism more broadly is sort of like
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  contracting in these weird and
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  interesting ways, bad ones mostly, but
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  it's having sort of different effects in
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  which case there's these there's this
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  pining for I think in certain corners of
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  more authoritative deep work which this
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  documentary provides as well as books
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  like yours. Um, how do you feel about
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  the state of hip-hop journalism? This
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  feels at the one hand a bit of a triumph
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  and on the other hand kind of a reminder
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  of what may be missing or what we used
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  to have more more casually.
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  Well, the state of hip-hop journalism,
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  like the state of all journalism, is
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  bad. You know, there's there's just not
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  the budgets. You know, these magazines
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  used to be like as thick as phone books,
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  like The Source and Double XXL, and now
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  they barely exist. Um,
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  one thing I am heartened to see though
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  is biopics um are kind of not the
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  measure of history as much anymore. Do
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  you know what I mean? So, so this docu
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  series about Diddy there there might be
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  some is a little bit of issues
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  potentially with the journalism, but for
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  the most part it's grounded in reality.
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  It's grounded in journalism and in
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  digging deep, you know, and the the
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  filmmakers, you know, whenever there was
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  an allegation against someone, a serious
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  allegation, they tried to confirm it
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  with the source, you know, they did
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  their due diligence. And this is much
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  better than all of these biopics we've
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  been seeing over the years, you know,
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  and a a big example to me is the NWA
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  biopic straight out of Compton. And so
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  that film is presented, you know, as if
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  this is a true story. This is how it
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  happened. But, you know, in my book and,
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  you know, other places really shows that
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  a lot of it is not true at all. And for
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  example, um, Dr. Dre um was accused by
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  numerous mothers of his children of
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  beating them up, you know, and there's
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  there's records of all these domestic
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  assault cases against him, but that's
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  never mentioned in the film at all. And
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  the reason is because Dr. Dre is a
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  producer on the film. And uh a lot of
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  these type of biopics are either
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  produced by the subjects themselves or
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  they're they're funded by the like you
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  know private equity groups that own
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  these artists cataloges of music you
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  know what I mean and so they want to
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  raise the profile of the artist in the
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  public so they can sell more music
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  rights and and downloads and streaming
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  and stuff like that. So, so hopefully
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  the success of this diddy docu series
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  kind of like swings um you know kind of
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  changes things in the direction of more
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  of these type of docue series and fewer
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  biopics because that's that's just great
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  for journalism generally.