L.A. Times Issues Apology Over Tupac Debacle
March 27, 2008

Tupac Shakur has become one of the most successful late musicians in recent years, having released several posthumous tracks and albums since his death. Shakur has also been one of the most talked about artists in recent years, too. On Wednesday, The Deadbolt reported on the recent news that The Smoking Gun website believed fabricated FBI documents were used in an L.A. Times story allegeding that rapper and hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was linked to a 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur. One day after the breaking Smoking Gun story, The L.A. Times has issued a public apology.

According to the Associated Press, L.A. Times editor Russ Stanton apologized on the paper's website on Wednesday night, stating, "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used... We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents ... and in the story." The AP story also goes on to say that the L.A. Times writer of the original story, Chuck Philips, also apologized and sated that he got duped.

A Lawyer for "Diddy" urged the paper and its editors to issue an apology since Sean Combs claims he had no prior knowledge of or involvement whatsoever in the 1994 Shakur shooting, of which the paper obviously complied.

Sources: Associated Press.