EURweb

DIDDY WAS RIGHT, LA TIMES STORY IS BOGUS: Paper, with egg on its face, apologizes.

(March 27, 2008)

*After being called out Wednesday by The Smoking Gun.com for publishing a March 19 article implicating associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs - and Combs by association - the Los Angeles Times has issued an apology for using documents that were fabricated.

Diddy had said along the story was bogus from the get go. Well now he can say "I told ya." He may even want to think about filing a defamation suit.

The Times story - by Pulitzer-prize winning writer Chuck Philips - said that Combs, the late Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and music exec Jimmy Rosemond, knew in advance that rapper Tupac Shakur, also deceased, was going to the victim of a beatdown.

The physical confrontation resulted in Shakur being shot multiple times. Further, the assault is widely believed to be the genesis for the infamous East Coast/West Coast rap feud which many attribute to the deaths of Shakur and Wallace.

Tupac Shakur

"The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used," Editor Russ Stanton said in a story posted Wednesday night on the newspaper's website. "We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents ... and in the story."

Philips and his supervisor, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, also apologized.

James Sabatino

A key clue for The Smoking Gun.com was that the documents seemed phony because they appeared to be written on a typewriter instead of a computer and included blacked-out sections not typically found in such documents, among other problems. The website said the documents were fabricated by James Sabatino, a prison inmate with a history of exaggerating his place in the rap music world.

(Read The Smoking Gun's full report, "Big Fat Liar," here.)

Meantime, Philips said he wished he had done more to investigate their authenticity: "I now believe the truth here is I got duped."

Immediately upon publication of the story, Combs and Henchman denied any prior knowledge of or involvement in the robbery and shooting of Shakur at a New York recording studio. They also claimed they had been defamed by the newspaper. It'll be interesting to see if they pursue legal damages.

Available today!
Victoria Christopher Murray's first
teen novel - THE DIVINE DIVAS! They're
fifteen, fine and determined to be the
hottest, hippest girl group in gospel
music. With looks and voices like
theirs, they're sure to be on top.

---------------------
$500 - $1000/Per Day (CA$H)
(Just Returning Phone Calls)
**No Selling **Not MLM **No Boss
Full Training & Support 24/7
Learn From Successful Mentors Daily
For Audio Details Visit:
www.missionarycmoney.com
(888) 304-9888 (Be Financially Free)

Share and Bookmark

Speak Out

Currently, 36 comments have been made on this story.

View Comments or Post Comments.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs

...