US paper retracts false rapper story

The Los Angeles Times has retracted a 'hoax' story which linked rapper P Diddy to an assault on Tupac Shakur in 1994.

The paper has admitted that the article, which claimed that two former friends of Diddy's were linked to the assault on hip hop star Shakur and suggested that he knew of the attack before it happened, relied entirely on fake FBI documents.

But music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs immediately denied the allegations, calling the story a "lie" and "beyond ridiculous and ... completely false."

Shortly after the report was published a website, which specialises in uncovering news stories from legal documents and court filings, confirmed the documents used by the Times to substantiate the story, were forgeries.

The author of the story, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chuck Philips issued an apology, as did his supervisor, deputy managing editor Marc Duvoisin, just hours after launching an investigation into the claims.

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

The retraction, in which the Times reiterated its apology, involves the March 17 story, which has been removed from its website, as well as a shorter version that appeared in print two days later. It also retracted comments made by Philips in two online chats as well as a blog.

A Times spokeswoman said Philips would continue to write for the newspaper. Asked about disciplinary action against him or others, she issued a statement from editor Russ Stanton saying the Times took the matter "very seriously," and the retraction and apology "speak for themselves."

Shakur, one of rap's rising stars, survived a beating and gunshot wounds to the groin, head, hand and thigh at the Quad Recording Studios in New York City in 1994, but was killed in 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

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