Will Smith has made an effort to distance himself from Sean “Diddy” Combs and his alleged crimes amid throwback photos of the pair at various events recently circulating on social media.
While performing at the Observatory North Park theater in San Diego on Thursday, the actor, who has recently restarted his rap career, paused his show to make some rare comments about his supposed ties to Combs.
“The world we’re in right now, it’s really hard for y’all to, like, discern what’s real and what’s true, you know?” he said in a video obtained by TMZ. “I’ve been seeing y’all’s memes and stuff. … Some of it’s funny. I haven’t addressed any of this publicly, but I just wanna say this very clearly: I don’t have shit to do with Puffy, so y’all can stop all them memes. Y’all can stop all of that bullshit.”
The Oscar winner continued on, saying that he “ain’t been nowhere near that man” and “ain’t did none of that stupid shit.”
“So whenever y’all hear it, if somebody say that, it’s a damn lie,” he added.
Combs is currently facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges stemming from his September indictment, which also alleges that he physically abused women for over a decade, among other sexual crimes.
The rap mogul pleaded not guilty that same month; he has been denied bail three times and is currently in federal custody in New York City awaiting a trial. Combs is also embroiled in multiple lawsuits.
Elsewhere in the clip of Smith, he jokingly said, “I don’t even like baby oil,” a reference to the 1,000 bottles of baby oil and personal lubricant used for Combs’ alleged “freak-offs,” which were deemed dayslong sexual performances in the indictment. These items, as well as multiple firearms, were found when Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security agents in March.
“I usually don’t respond to dumbass stuff because it’s so many things, people say so much stuff,” he added. “But that one — your memes was doin’ too much. Y’all was having me mad.”
