In case you didn’t know already, trap rap godfather T.I. has recently made a pivot to standup comedy. While some of his initial material has received mixed reactions online, he’s kept at it, refining his material and accumulating the most important part of any good standup career: Experience. However, he may want to also develop a thicker skin, judging from a video that recently surfaced on social media.
During a recent open mic night in his hometown, Atlanta, T.I. reportedly went from heckling the host to having an outright confrontation with her on stage when she retaliated by poking at a sore spot for the rapper turned comedian. In 2021, T.I. and his wife Tiny were accused of multiple instances of sexual assault by a group of women who claim that the couple drugged them on several instances in both California and Georgia. As he heckled the host, comic Lauren Knight, Knight apparently clapped back with a reference to the allegations, prompting T.I.’s outburst on stage.
Later, on Instagram, both parties detailed their respective sides of the story. Knight said, “I’m talking about marriage and sh*t [and] he keeps cutting me off, telling me to ‘shut the fuck,’ calling me all kinds of bitches—heckling me. So, I’m like, ‘Alright, c’mon. Stop playing with me. It’s crazy, like you keep going and I can’t say nothing to you.’” She said after T.I. jokingly told her to remove her wig, she struck back. “I said, ‘Alright, I’ll take my wig off when you speak on the allegations. Nobody was tight, except for him. Nobody called him a rapist. I responded to him telling me — in a room full of people — to rip my wig off, and made a joke just like he did. So if you got a problem with it, not mine.”
(@sheslaurenk)Meanwhile, T.I. addressed the incident in a separate live stream in which he defended himself, claiming that he did not call Knight any names. However, she responded with a video of her own that seemed to refute his statements.
T.I. previously refuted the allegations against him and his wife, challenging the accusers to come forward publicly.