Ray J speaks out following Diddy arrest and bail denial

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William “Ray J” Norwood Jr. spoke to Chris Cuomo on CUOMO on Saturday, September 20 about how Sean “Diddy” Combs’ recent arrest and bail denial has impacted the hip-hop community.

Ray J, 43, has called Diddy a mentor and a friend, and told Cuomo, 54, that he never expected to hear allegations of sex trafficking or other crimes about the 54-year-old producer.

“We’ve all been around him, at least in my era, and have looked up to him,” said the “Wait A Minute” singer. “And this situation is super unfortunate, but it’s important to learn a lesson right right now and ensure the next generation understands how to move differently with transparency and integrity,” he continued. The artist said that although the previous generation of performers needs to be “accountable” for their behavior, “I don’t think this is a time to tear anybody down.”

When asked about why the music industry has remained largely silent since the Bad Boy Records founder was arrested, the “Sexy Can I” singer took a long pause before responding. “I think a lot of people are in shock,” he said. “A lot of people are dealing with it in their own way.”

Cuomo presented an alternative explanation for the silence from the community, saying, “I hear people aren’t coming out because they either suspected this about him, or they don’t want to have any connection to him. And then I guess there’s another group who’s worried that they’re gonna get pulled in.”

Cuomo pressed Ray J about whether he’d known about Diddy’s darker side. “You had to have heard the kinds of things that other people heard,” said the journalist. But Ray J maintained that it was “a shock” to him and many of his peers.

“We’ve never seen the stuff that’s being said and the stuff that people are finding out, like, I’ve never been in rooms that people are talking about, and I never knew they existed,” he said.