Irv Gotti says he can no longer call Fat Joe a friend after the Terror Squad rapper called Irv a sucker for his recent Drink Champs podcast interview.
On Tuesday (Aug. 9), Irv Gotti spoke with radio station 97.9 The Box in Houston about the uproar caused due to Irv recently spilling tea about his alleged 20-year-old affair with Ashanti. During the talk, Irv was asked about Fat Joe's harsh commentary about the situation.
"I feel like [Fat Joe] fooled me, he's not my friend. But in life you get fooled," Irv tells hosts Keisha Nicole, J-Mac and Jess.
Irv begins to speak further about the Bronx, N.Y. rapper but stops, apparently at the behest of his handlers.
"Forget Joe. They don't want me to talk about Joe," Irv continues. "So, I won't talk about Joe, I'll talk about life. In life, everyone goes through friends. People who you thought were your friends. I'm not talking about Joe. Let me talk. In life, I have had countless friends come and go. But, you know what remains consistent and why I get through all of this? My family. Because I don't really need friends."
When Irv was asked if he regretted publicizing his extramarital affair with Ashanti, he was not a bit remorseful.
"The one thing you gotta know about me, I am cool in my gangster," Irv adds. "I am cool with who I am as a person. That gives me the ability to talk about things that the normal person won't talk about. I don't care. It's my truth. It's my life. It's my story. This is what happened."
Irv Gotti has clearly taken exception to Fat Joe's comments on Sunday (Aug. 7), when the "Lean Back" MC blasted Irv for going on Drink Champs and talking about his tryst with former Murder Inc. artist Ashanti.
"Irv Gotti a sucker, man. He a sucker," Fat Joe said in the video. "Y'all can @ Irv Gotti, Ja, whatever the fuck you want," he continued. "Whatever Irv has with Ashanti is 20 years old, right. I know he was making some points that mean a lot to him. But when you keep ranting about somebody 20 years later, it felt like he's not over the young lady, right."
"It's okay, if its in a documentary," Joe added. "You gotta see your truth in your documentary. But to go to Drink Champs and to keep calling her a bitch, keep disrespecting … Um, guys, I'm not gonna be the guy to 'stand up for Ashanti, the brother that' … Ja Rule was standing right next to him. And so I'm not gonna be that guy. But, I'm not telling stories about a girl I was with 20 years ago. In fact, I hope you die. Fuck you, bitch. Leave me alone, right. So, when you doing this, it looks like you caught up, you aint get over the shit."
Ja Rule has since clapped back at Joe's assertion that he didn't stand up for Ashanti.
"STOP saying I didn’t defend sis and all women when I clearly told Gotti stop calling Ashanti/women the B word same way I told Joe at Verzuz," Ja commented under an Instagram blog post about the situation. "Watch the interview before you talk shit… NOW LEAVE ME TF OUT THESE GROWN FOLKS BUSINESS… ❤️."
Ashanti has yet to speak publicly to Irv Gotti's claims. Irv's Murda Inc. documentary airs tonight on BET.