Rapper Bow Wow is under fire for defending Sean Diddy Combs' parties.
The Let Me Hold You rapper took a clear stance just last week, calling Combs the “gatekeeper to the game," which has left online critics concerned.
“Like, BET Award weekend, like the past two, it didn’t feel right,” Bow Wow said in an October 10 appearance on the More to the Story podcast, referring to the BET Awards in June and the BET Hip Hop Awards last week.
“There was no motion, there was no parties,” he continued. “There was nowhere to go.”
Host Rocsi Diaz asked the Like Mike star, 37, to point out the difference between Combs’ star-studded parties and the illegal “freak-offs” he has been accused of hosting
“For the record, I left before 1 [a.m.]! I never stayed!” Diaz, 42, explained after Bow Wow said he was speaking of industry events they have both attended in the past.
“I’ve only been to two parties and I’ve never seen a freak-off!” the host said on the podast.
Bow Wow then got candid about feeling a void without Combs’ influence in the music industry, who is being held in Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.
“I said, ‘Jermaine, there’s no parties,'” Bow Wow recalled, as he mimicked being on the phone with record producer Jermaine Dupri, who’s also his longtime mentor.
“You feel it. It’s like a hole. He was everything hip hop! So for that to die out, you just would have never thought,” he added.
The episode left viewers in a fury when it circulated online, with fans dragging the Shortie Like Mine rapper for his tone-deaf remarks— given that Combs was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering.
“Can he read the room?” one user took notice of the X post on Sunday.
“Soooooo… nobody else but Diddy can host a party? I’m confused,” another wrote, while a third asked, "Why would he say this?”
A fourth then chimed in, saying, “Considering current circumstances to be saying this is wild.”
Bow Wow’s podcast appearance aired the same day Combs, 54, made his first appearance in Manhattan federal court. The music mogul's trial date is set for May 5. He will serve a minimum of 15 years behind bars if convicted.