The death of Tupac Shakur remains one of America’s most famous unsolved murders, so it’s understandable that any possible solution to the 21-year-old mystery would blow up the internet.
But a report that Suge Knight has accused his ex-wife and a former Death Row security executive of masterminding the 1996 attack in which Shakur was killed are false, according to Knight’s attorney, Thaddeus J. Culpepper.
“Very recently, a press release was issued stating that Attorney Thaddeus J. Culpepper wrote and signed an affidavit regarding the assassination of Tupac Shakur,” Culpepper said in a statement provided to TheWrap on Tuesday. “The writers of the press release also state that the alleged affidavit contains statements from Suge Knight. The press release cites no author.”
“As counsel for Mr. Knight, my duty is to assist him in proving his innocence in his present cases. I have never made any official statement regarding Tupac Shakur, nor have I made any statements on my client’s behalf regarding Mr. Shakur, written or otherwise,” the statement continued. “Articles relying on this unattributed press release are without merit.”
The story, which was published without documentation by the Daily Mail and quickly picked up by numerous other sites, claimed that Culpepper had introduced an affidavit in open court, through which Knight accused Reggie Wright Jr., and his ex-wife Sharitha, of organizing the attack.
However, as fantastic as the story may sound, “[t]hat affidavit is fake news,” Culpepper told TheWrap.
Knight has never publicly revealed what, if any, knowledge he has about Shakur’s murder. He famously told ABC News just two months after it happened that he wouldn’t cooperate with a police investigation, even if he knew who the culprit was.
On the other hand, while he has not publicly claimed knowledge of Tupac’s murder, Knight has made several somewhat unbelievable claims since his arrest; among them, that his former Death Row Records partner Dr. Dre conspired with a Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy to try to kill him.
Knight is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of murder and attempted murder stemming from a hit-and-run incident in January, 2015 reportedly sparked by an argument over the biopic “Straight Outta Compton.” Since his arrest, he has experienced a string of legal setbacks, including bail set at millions of dollars, numerous changes to his defense team, and the denial of a request to know the identities of several key witnesses against him.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.