The Los Angeles Times apologized today after publishing a report implying that rapper/music mogul Diddy had prior knowledge of a 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur.
The robbing and shooting of Shakur at a New York recording studio launched the infamous East Coast/West Coast rap war that took the lives of Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., a close friend of Diddy's. Had the article been true, it would've meant Diddy had an indirect cause in his best friend's shocking and devastating murder.
The LA Times article was based off of FBI reports that were revealed to be fabricated by a prison inmate. The Smoking Gun website exposed the hoax, forcing the LA Times to apologize for the shocking article.
Russ Stanton, the editor of the Times, made this statement: "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used....We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents ... and in the story."
The writer of the article was Pulitzer Prize-winner Chuck Philips, who also made an apology on the LA Times website. He said that he wished he did more research, despite working with an ex-FBI agent on examining the faux documents. The attorney for Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, said that the apology was a"first step", but that the damage was done already.
I have to agree with the lawyer. The death of the Notorious B.I.G. is a wound that Diddy will never recover from. Then, to face accusations that he may have caused the rap war that took his best friend's life must have been truly horrific.
I'm not suggesting that Chuck Philips is fired, but a simple apology really isn't enough.
Facts and photo courtesy of Associated Press.
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