Stephen A's Take: Stephen A reacts to 50 Cent and the disgraced music mogul's longstanding feud.

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Now let's get to the latest one showing Diddy Comb's
federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial. A former assistant, testifying
under the pseudonym Miya, was back on the stand facing
cross examination for combs defense team. Meanwhile, Curtis fifty cent
Jackson spoke out this weekend about the trial and any
potential part in Combs could receive from President Trump. Fiddy

(00:23):
went to social media following these comments from President Trump
last Friday when asked about Ditty in the trial, take
a listen, please.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Backing and listen to the apprentice. You mentioned once in
twenty twelve that Ditty was a good friend of yours
back then. He has since found himself in some very
serious legal trouble. That would you ever consider pardoning him?
I well, nobody's asked. You had to be the one
to ask, Gator, but nobody's asked. But I know people
are thinking about it. I know they're thinking about it.

(00:53):
I think people have been very close to asking. First
of all, I look at what's happening, and I haven't
been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a
lot of coverage. I haven't seen him. I haven't spoken
to him in years. He used to really like me
a lot, but I think when I ran for politics,
he sort of that relationship busted up from what I read.

(01:15):
I don't know. He didn't tell me that, but I'd
read some little bit nasty statements in the paper. All
of a sudden, you know, it's different. You've become a
much different person when you run for politics and you
do what's right. I could do other things, and I'm
sure he'd like me, and I'm sure other people would
like me, but it wouldn't be as good for our country.
As we said. Our country's doing really well because of

(01:35):
what we're doing, so I can't It's not a popularity contest,
so I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts.
If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me
or don't like me, it wouldn't have any impact on me.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Now Here's what Fitty posted on Instagram this weekend after
those comments. Quote, Donald doesn't take well to disrespect and
doesn't forget who chooses to go against him while working
tirelessly to make America, there is no room for distraction.
He would consider pardoning anyone who was being mistreated, not Diddy,
Colmbs said some really bad things about Trump. It's not okay.

(02:12):
I'm gonna reach out so he knows how I feel
about this guy. End quote. First of all, let me
say this because I love me some fifty cent. I
love what he's doing. I love what he's doing on
Stars Power you know the sequels PowerBook Ghosts, which is
my favorite PowerBook Force, which Joseph Sikora plays Tommy Egan.

(02:33):
I love that. I love Raising Canaan. You saw what
I had. You know you saw I had the star
Patina Miller's on the show. She's phenomenal. I love that show.
I love everything that fifty cent is doing, even though
he's still I'm sure he's gonna still make some music
or whatever. But I just think he's phenomenal. I think
he's phenomenal. His executive produced. I think he's an incredible talent,
and I think he is the kind of person you

(02:55):
do not want against you, because this brother will troll
you forever. I mean, he will hit you where it hurts.
Ain't no doubt about that, and he clearly has no
love for Diddy. My whole point is Trump's willingness to
pardon Ditty potentially whatever. Fifty Cent feels it shouldn't be

(03:15):
based on whether Trump what Diddy has said about Trump.
It should be based on whether Trump that thinks the
charges against him are excessive, the crime that he's being
accused of, If he were to be committed of those
federal crimes, how valid they are, and whether or not
that time served comes into consideration. That clearly is not

(03:39):
going to be the case. I mean, if it's one
of those situations where President Trump ended up pardoning P Diddy.
P Ditty's on trial now, he hasn't been convicted yet,
he's been in jail for a few months, but with
some of the things that he's been accused of, sex
trafficking and racketeering, as the government continues to make its case,
we got to hear what the defense has to say
in response to those allegations, those charges, those assertions that

(04:01):
the prosecution has made against him. Ultimately, if you want
to look at him right now, clearly he's an individual
that nobody wants to have anything to do with. When
you consider the video and how it revealed how he
was abusing, physically abusing his ex girlfriend Cassie Venturer. When

(04:21):
you hear the assistant give her testimony. When you hear
the things that folks have alluded to, when you hear
about the details about what he coaxed Cassie Venturer into doing,
these are very heinous, disgusting things, to say the least.
I'm not gonna even go into detail the heinous and disgusted,

(04:41):
you know. And so when you look at it from
that standpoint, you know, why are you thinking about pardoning
him before he's even been convicted. Let him get convicted
and if he's getting if he gets convicted, let him
spend some time in jail, and then after that you
want to consider pardoning him, your decision should be based
on that, not on whether or not he he has
said nasty things about the president. So and fifty cent,

(05:05):
I would just like to know for fifty cent specifically
what the beef is with Diddy, whatever that may be,
I don't know. I don't follow it like that he
does not like this man, he feels whatever it is
that he feels about Diddy. This is not my lane,
ladies and gentlemen. I don't follow the hip hop. I
like my music. I like listening to hip hop, but

(05:26):
I don't follow the storylines that come in sociald I
know nothing of the history between fifty cent and Diddy,
but Diddy has me wanting to find out. I'm sorry,
fifty Cent has me wanting to find out what that
history is. Because most people would just not say anything
you are saying. If Trump says what he says, all right,
no matter what their feelings are, they ain't gonna get involved.

(05:47):
Did fifty Cent don't give a damn? You don't give
a damn. He literally is saying he's gonna reach out
to Trump to remind Trump of the things that p
Diddy has said about him for the soul express purposes
of making sure that Trump doesn't part in Diddy any
event that Diddy gets convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering.

(06:10):
That's what fifty cent is wanted to do. And I
gotta admit to you that's wild. Damn. You know you
got an enemy there when a man wanted to go
out of his way to contact the president, you know,
and clearly he has some kind of inroads where he
can get to President Trump so President Trump can hear him.
He's basically saying, Yo, brother, need to go down. Brother,

(06:32):
need to go down and stay down. That's what he's
saying so, if did he didn't have enough problems, Having
fifty cent on your ass is a problem. That's a problem.
That's the only thing I can peel from it. At
this moment in time, I would love for fifty cent
to tell us what exactly is his disgust with Diddy,

(06:55):
other than to discuss we all feel from the videos
we already saw. It would be real interesting to see that.
I'm just saying, I'm just saying, m m mm hm

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Mm hm