The past several years have seen Kanye West receive backlash for statements he’s made on a myriad of topics. West has garnered particular attention for sharing antisemitic sentiments during both on-camera interviews and social media. That entire saga arguably began with his viral (and since-removed) interview on the Drink Champs podcast in late 2022. Even over three years after that, new information on the discussion is still being divulged, and I just learned that Sean “Diddy” Combs shared notes before it dropped.
Drink Champs host N.O.R.E. reflected on the interview while speaking with Jason Lee. To provide some context, N.O.R.E.’s podcast is owned by the Revolt network and, at the time the Ye interview was conducted, the since-incarcerated Combs was the head of the company, which I knew). But his recent interview with Lee, the “Superthug” performer revealed that while he was editing the video, he fielded a phone call from Combs, who shared thoughts on the video, and I didn’t know that. As for his regrets, N.O.R.E. said:
I feel like I should’ve took out a lot more with the Ye interview. Because Ye — at the end of the day, I felt like me and Ye was friends…. I really, really felt like I was family. And I didn’t understand, still to this day, if he was trying to get out of his Adidas deal and he used me — I’m kind of with that. I just wish I was in on the conversation a little more.
During that interview, Kanye West declared that he could “say antisemitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me,” and he also made inflammatory statements about the death of George Floyd. After the interview went viral, West was dropped by Adidas as well as CAA, Balenciaga and other businesses. The “Stronger” performer’s comments also sparked a $250 million lawsuit from Floyd’s family. N.O.R.E explained to Lee (as seen on YouTube) how he felt about the Floyd comments and what it was like when Combs reached out to him about the piece:
Puff called me. I did not understand the Jewish part of the conversation, and I did not understand the George Floyd part of the conversation, meaning — it was so much other things that happened, it went over my head. It’s the only time we’ve ever been in business with Puff. Puff called me and was like, ‘Hey, I think we should edit this one.’ I’m saying, ‘We’ll take your part out.’ He’s like, ‘Not my part, my part can stay. You sure you want these other parts to stay?’ … [Diddy] said, ‘I do not suggest that.'
N.O.R.E. initially seemed to suggest that Sean Combs – a friend of Ye’s – advised him to limit his cuts to the interview. Yet the comment above seemingly conveys the notion that Combs was unsure about releasing West’s conversation with the salacious content. N.O.R.E expressed further regret over how the podcast interview turned out and said this:
It wasn’t about Kanye’s delivery or his statements, it was…. we felt like we were the Howard Sterns. If you edit us, then you’re messing up our creative content…. Me looking at that in retrospect was like, ‘Damn, the George Floyd thing was wrong.'
Following that controversial interview, Ye shared more anti-Jewish comments on social media, and he later claimed that he’d recanted his views on subsequent occasions. This past January saw West take out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal in which he formally apologized for the comments he’d shared and partially attributed them to his mental health struggles. When asked if he only apologized for career advancement, West pointed out that his music was still faring well from a commercial standpoint.
Meanwhile, Diddy remains behind bars at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey as he serves a four-year/50-month sentence after being found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. In March 2025, West and Diddy spoke by phone while the latter was still at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which was a signifier of their continued friendship. Of course, given Diddy’s current situation, we’re unable to hear his side of how those conversations involving West’s interview played out.
