The Times Apologizes Over Article on Rapper

A Los Angeles Times story about a brutal 1994 attack on rap superstar Tupac Shakur was partially based on documents that appear to have been fabricated, the reporter and editor responsible for the story said Wednesday.

Reporter Chuck Philips and his supervisor, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, issued statements of apology Wednesday afternoon. The statements came after The Times took withering criticism for the Shakur article, which appeared on latimes.com last week and two days later in the paper's Calendar section.

The criticism came first from The Smoking Gun website, which said the newspaper had been the victim of a hoax, and then from subjects of the story, who said they had been defamed.

"In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job," Philips said in a statement Wednesday. "I'm sorry."

In his statement, Duvoisin added: "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down."

Times Editor Russ Stanton announced that the newspaper would launch an internal review of the documents and the reporting surrounding the story. Stanton said he took the criticisms of the March 17 report "very seriously." [Click for MORE]

> Combs' lawyer: A retraction may not be enough to avoid a lawsuit
> Humiliation for LAT reminiscent of CBS' black eye after Guard report
> Latimes.com visitors blast paper for Shakur story screw-up
> 'LA Times' fall on 'Puffy' story reveals new scrutiny of online documents
> Does deceiving a paper seem as funny today as it did last week? Sphere: Related Content

Smoking Gun Says LA Times Got Hoaxed

The Smoking Gun claims that the L.A. Times relied on FBI documents fabricated by con man James Sabatino for the paper's report last week that the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur was carried out by associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs (photo, right) and that he knew of the plot beforehand. The documents don't show up in FBI records and show obvious signs of fakery, the site says:

The Times appears to have been hoaxed by an imprisoned con man and accomplished document forger, an audacious swindler who has created a fantasy world in which he managed hip-hop luminaries, conducted business with Combs, Shakur, Busta Rhymes, and The Notorious B.I.G., and even served as Combs's trusted emissary to Death Row Records boss Marion "Suge" Knight during the outset of hostilities in the bloody East Coast-West Coast rap feud.

The con man, James Sabatino, 31, has long sought to insinuate himself, after the fact, in a series of important hip-hop events, from Shakur's shooting to the murder of The Notorious B.I.G.. [Romenesko] [LAO]

L.A. Times Editor Stanton reacts: The Times will investigate the claim, Editor Russ Stanton says in a story on the paper's website. Regarding the original piece, the LAT.com story adds:

"This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false," Combs said in a statement last week. "Neither Biggie [Notorious B.I.G.] nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story."

Following the posting of the article on latimes.com, Combs' attorney, Howard Weitzman, sent a letter to The Times calling for a retraction and demanding that the paper hold the story out of its print edition. Weitzman expressed particular concern about the assertion, based on anonymous sources, that Combs had been told in advance that Shakur would be attacked....The paper had not responded to the retraction demand as of Tuesday. [LAO]

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