Nick Cannon defends Diddy 'as a friend' while discussing challenges of Cassie lawsuit in resurfaced interview
Nick Cannon shared his struggles with friendships in a recent episode of his "Counsel Culture" show.
Cannon, 43, was asked "What do you think about Diddy?" while chatting with Iyanla Vanzant in a segment that was recorded before Sean Combs' houses were raided by the Homeland Securities Investigation team as part of a federal human trafficking investigation last month.
"I find difficulty when I'm asked about people that I know about," Cannon said in a clip shared on his Instagram Tuesday. "It was either ‘The Breakfast Club’ or Angela Yee or something, and they asked me about Puff, and I answered it as honestly as I knew how to answer it."
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Cannon added, "I know these people. They're not just public figures to me, so I have to almost do this dance about when it comes up, because just as much as I know Diddy, I know Cassie."
The "Masked Singer" host was referring to the lawsuit Cassie filed in November where she accused Combs of raping her in her own home, enduring "over a decade" of his "violent behavior and disturbed demands" in addition to allegedly forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes while he watched and filmed.
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Combs denied Cassie's claims in a statement provided to Fox News Digital at the time.
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"Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. For the past six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail," his lawyer said. "Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s reputation and seeking a payday."
One day after she filed the claim, Combs and Cassie, legally known as Casandra Ventura, came to an amicable resolution, and she dropped the lawsuit. "I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control. I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support," Cassie wrote. Combs said in his own statement that the decision was agreed upon by both parties, and he had no ill will toward the singer.
In the podcast, which was recorded in February, Cannon stated, "I think what they brought up is like, I saw that, I kind of said, 'I'm praying for Cassie.' Trying to find the high frequency and knowing the story, knowing the right thing to talk about. I was like, ‘This is someone who was hurt, who was victimized.’
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"But then when this question goes a little bit further, like, so what about Puff? I don't know how to feel about that. When I was going through my stuff, someone that called, checked on me, stood by me, stood up for me, and I was like, what do I owe?"
Vanzant asked, "But what does that mean? Stood by you? Stood up for you?"
Cannon clarified, "Well when no one else would protect me."
In July 2020, Cannon was fired by ViacomCBS after a decades-long working relationship for spreading "anti-Semitic conspiracy theories" and "hateful speech" made on an episode of his YouTube podcast "Cannon's Class."
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Days later, he responded on Facebook saying that he does not condone hate speech "nor the spread of hateful rhetoric. We are living in a time when it is more important than ever to promote unity and understanding."
Diddy almost immediately fired back and offered Cannon a job at his Revolt TV company.
"We got your back and love you and what you have done for the culture," Diddy tweeted at the time. "We are for our people first!!! For us! By US! Let's go!!!"
Representatives for Nick Cannon did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Vanzant circled back with Cannon, "Whether it's Puffy or whoever, you want to be their brother first, not their PR agent."
"But as a friend, as a brother, I want to defend," Cannon said, to which Vanzant added, "But that's not your job."
"That's not my job," he said. "So your advice to me is sometimes you just say, I reserve comment. So that goes back to what this is all about — healing in the public eye as our brotherhood, he shouldn't be in the public."