Rapper-turned-politician Shyne is reiterating the claims of a victim in the 1999 nightclub shooting that he was the fall guy.
Amid the current legal woes rap mogul Diddy is facing are renewed pleas by one of the victims, Natalia Reuben, who was shot in the face on December 27, 1999, for the case to be reopened so that Diddy can face justice.
The woman’s video went viral in February after news broke that several women, including his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, were suing Diddy for sexual assault. In her lawsuit, Ventura listed several claims which gave insight into Diddy’s alleged brushings with criminality, including having her carry his guns in her purse during an incident.
It seems that Shyne is corroborating Reuben’s claim as he expressed his feelings at hearing that Diddy reportedly confessed to the shooting. The alleged confession is referenced in a lawsuit by Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones, who alleges that he was harassed and sexually assaulted by Diddy and persons acting on Diddy’s say-so over 12 months while he worked on Diddy’s The Love Album: Off the Grid.
In an interview with reporters in Belize, Shyne, who is now the Opposition Leader of the country, said he’s been urging the authorities that he was innocent and was not the shooter.
“When you hear the victim saying that it was Diddy that shot her, that is the most remarkable [thing],” Shyne said.
He continued, “That was triggered by a lawsuit from a producer that produced on the Love Album who is making accusations and in those accusations, he says that the gentleman confessed to the shooting. And that is what stands out to me the most because I’ve done by best to put it behind me and move forward and so, but it certainly reopens the wounds for me. I’ve been saying this all along. Everyone knew all along that I was the fall guy but my political enemies and detractors try to make me into this criminal, but everyone know that I was a young kid that took the fall. Everyone knew.”
Shyne also says he is innocent, as the witness claimed.
“I am just saying that I maintain my innocence all this time. I said I was defending myself. I didn’t get into who did what, but the victim is telling you who did what and another; I understand there are other witnesses.”
Shyne remains close to Diddy after rekindling their relationship in or around 2021. After he finished his 10-year prison sentence, he was deported to Belize. The rapper was barred from re-entering the United States as a convicted felon.
However, reports in 2021 claimed that Diddy was a part of the support to help Shyne regain entry to the United States as a diplomat because he was elected to the Belize House of Representatives and Opposition Leader.
However, while maintaining that he was innocent and that the victim was right, Shyne refuses to say who the shooter was. Although he was charged and went to jail, Diddy was later acquitted. Diddy’s then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, who was with them during the shooting, has also never spoken about the incident.
“Is she [the victim] accurate, sir?” the reporter asks.
“I’m not going to get into that but it does open wounds and certainly I am relieved that people are saying what the truth is. You know I did not shoot those people. I maintain that I never shoot nobody, that there were other guns- they always said that- that has not changed, and that is the testimony that came out. Fragments were never removed, so there were never any forensics testing to say who it was but the victims are vindicating me. But I have moved on. I am not trying to relive that and so I am appreciative of whatever contributions Diddy has made to help the people of Belize. I wish him well, I pray him, I pray for the alleged victims and if it is true, may justice be served. If it is not, it’s a tragedy; a global icon would have been destroyed,” he said.
Diddy has never spoken about the incident.
