After six years of recording, the “Joe Budden Podcast” has come to a dramatic end.
Host Budden fired his co-hosts, Rory Farrell and Jamil “Mal” Clay, while recording a podcast episode that was posted and then quickly deleted on May 12. Budden later reposted the episode on Patreon, asking fans to subscribe to see the video footage of the podcast recording.
Budden, a retired rapper and former “Love and Hip Hop” star, is alone in the studio for the duration of the video. That’s because co-hosts Farrell and Clay (the podcast used to be called “The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory and Mal”) have been mostly absent from recording since March when they took a hiatus to try and sort out their differences with Budden.
It seemed like the three were on the road to good terms in late April, when they recorded their first episode after the break. But now the trio seems to be broken up for good. Budden fired Farrell during an expletive-laden rant he recorded solo, claiming that Farrell breached his contract. It’s not clear exactly how the contract was breached, but fans are assuming the breakup is because Budden’s co-hosts asked for more money.
“Rory feels like he has so many options here, somehow he still feels like he’s running the show [and] he still feels like he has choices and options, he feels like he’s entitled to more,” Budden said. “Rory, you are in breach of your contract. And from this point forward, you are fired and you are not welcome back,” he added.
Budden also called Farrell a “liability” and said he encouraged Farrell and Clay to take their talents elsewhere and start their own show.
Reps for Farrell and Clay did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Budden, who started the show in 2016, also said he’d “NEVER funding someone’s sabotage of me, that will NEVER happen… i get far away from the threat…. You can think piece until your face turns blue.”
Then, apparently addressing both Farrell and Clay, Budden said, “Y’all take that f—ing dark energy, that arrogance and that entitlement somewhere else.”
When a fan asked him if the show was done now that it’s lost two-thirds of the hosts, Budden replied saying it’s “100,000% over.”
“Helluva run!! God bless,” Budden said on Twitter Wednesday.
Since firing Farrell and ending things publicly, Budden has had plenty to say and has been replying to fans and critics alike on Twitter all day. One fan asked him if “maybe this whole situation needs more thought than what you’ve given it,” and Budden replied:
“The Joe Budden Podcast” used to be hosted exclusively on Spotify thanks to a multi-figure deal but Budden pulled it from the platform last August, claiming Spotify was unfairly “pillaging” his audience.
Check out a few reactions to the podcast’s end — and Budden’s replies to some fans — below.
Leave a Reply