Suge Knight was once one of the most feared producers and music executives in the music industry.
Now he’s serving time in prison after he pleaded no contest in 2018 to voluntary manslaughter for running over his friend Terry Carter in a restaurant parking lot in 2016. To help pass the time, the controversial music mogul is using his sentence to record episodes for his podcast, “Collect Call with Suge Knight.”
Knight has made a lot of claims and allegations while behind bars and now, he has used his podcast as a way to get them out to the public.
Since its premiere last month, he’s talked about the death of late rapper Tupac and his impact on Snoop Dogg’s career, as well as making accusations about Diddy and Akon.
In the latest episode, the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records recalled the time he had to stick up for Oprah Winfrey.
While he usually talks about his peers and people involved in the rap industry, Knight told listeners about the time he had to fight for the honor of a mogul he had no connection to.
On the Dec. 2 episode of the podcast, Knight said, “I remember back in the day, doing time, when people said something bad about Oprah Winfrey, s—t I got in they a-s.”
Knight said that he didn’t like his fellow inmates talking bad about a Black woman.
“I fired they s—t up, slapped the s—t out of ‘em,” Knight said, “Don’t say nothin’ bout this Black Sister.” Knight said that the feeling wasn’t reciprocated, noting that, “Oprah wouldn’t put rappers on her show.”
Knight isn’t the only rap pioneer to have felt this way as 50 Cent, Ice Cube, and Ludacris have also had similar issues with the former talk show host.
Some fans praised the 58-year-old for defending Winfrey’s honor, as one commenter said, “Good for him. I love & celebrate Oprah and her groundbreaking achievements.”
Others were more confused about why Knight brought the story up. One fan suggested that he was trying to get into Winfrey’s pockets saying, “I guess he hoping Oprah hears this so she can put [money] on his books. Nice try. I doubt she cares.”
Despite others who felt Winfrey had disdain for rapper, the 69-year-old still promoted the 2015 hip-hop biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” which Knight seemingly wasn’t a fan of. He said the movie “tried to kill” him, which he blames as the reason for him being locked up right now.
What Knight is alluding to is the fact that his prison sentence started due to a confrontation that happened on the set of the movie. After hearing about how he would be portrayed in the “Straight Outta Compton,” Knight pulled up to one of the shooting locations to confront Dr. Dre, who was a producer on the film.
Knight was not allowed on set due to a long-standing beef between him and the former N.W.A. member, so he was asked to leave after an argument with a man named Cle Sloan. The two later met at Tam’s Burgers, where they began to fight again. Carter, who some report as a friend of Knight’s, tried to stop the altercation.
Reports said that Knight hit Sloan with his car, before hitting Carter as he got away. Sloan sustained injuries, and Carter died at the scene. Knight was sentenced to 28 years in prison over the hit-and-run.
