J. Cole confirms his fight with Diddy “really did happen,” but he chooses not to share the details as he doesn’t want to kick him while he’s down
- HIPHOP CROWN NATION
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The Dreamville founder, J. Cole says he can't speak on Sean “Diddy” Combs altercation because he won't kick a ‘When He’s Down.’
J. Cole remains silent on Diddy altercation due to concerns of further “destroying” him.
While speaking on Cam’ron’s Talk With Flee podcast, J. Cole discussed why he prefers not to talk about his altercation with Diddy at a 2013 MTV VMAs afterparty.
Back In 2013, it was reported that Cole got into an altercation with Diddy at an MTV VMAs afterparty. Puff allegedly tried to pour his drink on K Dot.
“There was a rumor… Did you ever scuffle with Puff before?” asked Cam around the 32-minute point of the podcast episode, which can be seen in full above. “Yeah, that actually happened,” Cole confirmed, but said that he wasn’t interested in explaining further. “Nah, you know what? I damn near wish I could, because it’s such an ill story. But, matter of fact, we did a podcast, me and [Ibrahim ‘E’ Hamad], like a year and a half ago. We kind of ran through the first part of my career up until Forest Hills Drive, and we had a bonus episode… about that night and that altercation.”
Cole told Cam that he and his manager, Ibrahim, were preparing to release a podcast episode about the altercation, but the timing was off. He emphasized that he and Diddy, who reconciled soon after the altercation rumors emerged, had "no problem for years" by the time he and Ibrahim recorded the episode.
“We was gonna put it out, thinking like, ‘Yo, it’s cool, enough time has passed, he ain’t going to feel no way,’” he continued. “And then all the shit happened with him. I was just like, ‘Nah.’ It felt like damn near kicking a man when he’s down. It would have gave the news more ammo and the world more ammo to just destroy this dude. It wasn’t a good time. I want to tell [the story] because it’s ill, but it happened. … It did happen, but the stories be wrong. The narratives around it be wrong.”
Cole explained that he heard Terrence ‘Punch’ Henderson from TDE shared a version of the events that doesn't paint the full picture. “I’m like, ‘You got a lot of right, but you wasn’t really right there,’” he said. “‘So, either what you saying, you missing details or misrepresented some details.’ I know the story, and [Ibrahim] was right there, but I know the full, front-to-back [story]. … That’s a memorable night for me. I’m recalling that shit verbatim.”
When the incident was reported in 2013, sources claimed that Diddy, Cole was “visibly intoxicated,”
attempted to approach Kendrick Lamar regarding his industry-shaking “Control” verse. Diddy reportedly attempted to spill his drink on K Dot, prompting Cole to step in. Eyewitnesses reported that the two rappers then got into a physical altercation, with their crews joining in. They eventually laughed about the incident in a video promoting Revolt, the company Diddy co-founded in 2013 and from which he was ousted in 2023 following sexual misconduct allegations.
In 2024, Punch from TDE was featured on an episode of the R&B Money podcast and verified that the incident occurred. “The homie just did this song, right? Piss the gang of people off. Everybody was mad at it,” Punch said at the time, without naming names. We get to the club. One of the homies approached us and talking about this particular record. So we're going back and forth, ‘Oh, it's not personal. It's just this, this and that. It's cool, whatever, whatever.’ … Another one of the homies walk up, he look drunk [and] said, ‘Yeah, y'all n***as need to go back and forth and keep it on wax or whatever, whatever, whatever.’”
Watch the full interview here:
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