Suge Knight is making explosive new claims about two late music industry titans and their alleged influence on Sean “Diddy” Combs.
During a new episode of Collect Call With Suge Knight, the former Death Row Records co-founder alleged that the late Uptown Records executive Andre Harrell and Def Jam founder Russell Simmons were involved in a hidden romantic relationship.
Knight also suggested that Diddy’s time working closely with Harrell shaped behaviors that have recently landed the Bad Boy founder under intense scrutiny.
“Andre Harrell and Russell Simmons, everybody know,” Knight said during the interview. “They might not wanna say it, but they know they was lovers. They participated in those types of things. Now, once again, a person has the right to be whatever they wanna be. But own it.”
Knight went on to claim that both men publicly presented themselves as heterosexual while privately engaging in relationships with men, adding his own commentary about how he views power dynamics in the industry.
“These men in the industry don’t consider theyself gay,” he said. “They consider themselves messing with women, but they really don’t like the women because they beat the shit out of them.”
Continuing his allegations, Knight tied Harrell and Simmons’ alleged relationship to their influential labels, Uptown and Def Jam, and to Combs’ early career as an intern under Harrell in the late 1980s.
“So when you take Andre Harrell and Russell Simmons, Uptown, Def Jam, freaky s–t,” Knight said. “Puffy get his intern stuff with Andre Harrell. You know the answer already. That started his journey.”
Knight acknowledged the legal risks of making such statements, emphasizing that his claims were not presented as fact.
“It’s not really good to name call, but it gotta stop,” he added. “So I don’t get sued, I gotta use the word ‘allegedly.’”
Harrell died in 2020 at age 59, while Simmons has not publicly responded to Knight’s comments.