Fat Joe stands by his decision to defend Ashanti from Irv Gotti’s derogatory comments.
The ‘Lean Back’ rapper, 52, described longtime friend and collaborator Ashanti as his ‘sister’ in a clip from an upcoming appearance on Red table discussionthat PEOPLE presents exclusively.
“I’m the brother who takes care of the sisters, but someone asked me, ‘Yo, why did you jump up and defend Ashanti like that?'” Joe said.
He went on to explain that the friend asked if he and Ashanti – who teamed up on the 2002 hit “What’s Luv?” — were romantically involved, as if that explained Joe’s defense. The question, however, left the star “flabbergasted”.
“It was like profanity or bullshit, wasn’t it?” he said. “Because she’s been my sister for about 20 years. And Irv [is] my brother…I love him…I’m not trying to disrespect Irv. I’m talking about the situation.”
Jordan Fisher Fat Joe on Red Table Talk
Fat Joe continued: “When someone I considered like one of my brothers said to me, ‘Yo, you fucking her? You are crazy ? It’s my sister. And then I noticed that when I started telling her it was my sister, her whole face went quiet and said, “Wow, that’s really your sister.
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The rapper’s comments come months after Gotti, 52, allegedly on the Drink champions podcast in August that he and Ashanti, 42, were romantically involved and that their relationship “helped” her in her career.
He claimed he wrote his song “Happy” after a night they spent together, and was then disappointed to learn at a basketball game that she was dating Nelly.
Although Ashanti later shared her own version of events and said Gotti “outright lied about a lot of things,” Fat Joe defended the star in an Instagram Live shortly after Gotti made his comments.
Théo Wargo/Getty, Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Fat Joe, Ashanti
“Everything Irv has with Ashanti is 20 years old. And I know he was making points that mean a lot to him, his heart and his soul, but when you keep ranting about someone 20 years later, it’s was like he wasn’t too young lady,” Joe said of the musical director and producer.
Joe continued, noting that in all his time with Gotti and Ashanti, he had “never seen them together like this”, and felt his comments were disrespectful.
“You have to speak your truth… But to go to Drink championsand [to] keep calling her a bitch, keep disrespecting her…” he said.
In October, Ashanti gave her version of events on Angie Martinez IRL podcast, saying she finds it “very weird” that Gotti “keeps lying.”
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“The only thing is, it wasn’t surprising to me, to some degree. I accepted a long time ago that’s the person he is,” she said. “But now the world sees.”
She continued: “I feel like Irv was downright lying about a lot of things… I don’t play in the mud, so I just let that sit there and I’m here. It’s weird, it’s It’s very weird when you know you’re lying and you keep lying. And that’s where it gets a little scary and a little mental.”
The “Foolish” singer said it was true that she was dating Nelly, and that Gotti was “salty” about it and, therefore, wouldn’t let her come to the studio to record.
“Irv was telling everyone not to record with me. Why do I want to stay in this situation?” she says. “When someone constantly tells you ‘You’re not s—’, ‘F— you’, ‘You’re not even f—ing loyal’, ‘I made you, ‘I made you want to the world of you f—.’ He said, “N—s want to fuck you because I made you look like this. I made you f—able.””
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