Among the conspiracy theories and actual allegations against disgraced media mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, the details that have maybe been on people’s minds the longest concern the night he and then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were arrested after a 1999 nightclub shooting in New York. That’s in part because while Combs also went on trial for the shooting, it was Jamal Barrow aka Shyne, a 19-year-old promising rap star under Combs’ Bad Boy Records, claiming his innocence, who was sentenced to jail for 10 years in 2001. He was charged with two counts of assault, reckless endangerment, and criminal possession of an illegal weapon.
And both Combs and Lopez walked away from the incident clean. Fans who were around then never forgot about this morsel of pop culture history. And a new generation has been itching to relitigate what happened now that they’re discussing Combs in a more damning light.
Folks grew even more eager after statements Barrow made in April reflecting on that night in ’99, amid mounting allegations against Combs that culminated in his arrest on sex trafficking and racketeering charges in September. “Everyone knew all along that I was the fall guy,” Barrow said . “But my political enemies and detractors try to make me into this criminal.
But everyone knew that I was a young kid that took the fall. That was the story. I’m just saying that I maintained my innocence all this time.
” The empathy audiences have for Barrow and the disgust they feel to.