Just in case there was any doubt, and possibly in a bid to placate those hip hop lawyers who are currently brushing up on their libel law, the LA Times have now officially retracted that story published on 17 Mar, which claimed that Sean 'Diddy Whatnot' Combs and Czar Entertainment chief Jimmy Rosemond knew in advance that Tupac Shakur would be assaulted at a recording studio in 1994.
As much previously reported, the article, entitled 'An Attack on Tupac Shakur launched a Hip-Hop War', and written by Pulitzer prize winning journalist Chuck Philips, claimed that Diddy and Rosemond both knew about and, Rosemond's case, were involved in the 1994 assault - an event which some say was the catalyst that led to hip hop's darkest era, and the murders of Shakur and rival rapper the Notorious BIG. Philips' allegations weren't new, but he claimed to have seen secret FBI documents that proved them to be true. Said documents have since been shown to be fake.
In their statement, The LA Times said, "[We have] since concluded that the FBI reports were fabricated and that some of the other sources relied on - including the person Philips previously believed to be the 'confidential source' cited in the FBI reports - do not support major elements of the story. Consequently, The Times is retracting the March 17 web publications as well as a shorter version of the article that appeared on Page E1 in the March 19 Calendar section of the newspaper. Statements that Philips made in two online chats, on March 18 and 25, and on The Times' Soundboard blog on March 21 also are being retracted".
The newapaper also issued an apology to Combs and Rosemond specifically, acknowledging that basic facts about the moguls were wrong: "Any statements or implications suggesting that Combs was given advance knowledge of the assault on Shakur, or played any role in it, are specifically retracted. In addition, The Times was mistaken in reporting that Rosemond has served prison time for drug dealing and was convicted in 1996 of drug offenses. The Times specifically retracts those statements".
Consider them retracted. In fact, we've even forgotten they ever existed. What existed? See, I don't know. Whether Diddy and Rosemond's lawyers will be able to forget about the whole incident so quickly, remains to be seen.