A gangster rapper popular in the 1990s is disputing New York Daily News columnist Shaun King’s claim that the two were together during a shooting at a restaurant in Kentucky in 1993.
C-Bo, a Sacramento-based rapper with a lengthy criminal record whose real name is Shawn Thomas, was asked about the incident on Twitter after it came up during a recent interview King had with Fox Sports 1 radio host Jason Whitlock.
During the interview — which aired on Friday — King, a Black Lives Matter activist, encouraged a skeptical Whitlock to contact C-Bo about the story to find out if it was true.
“There were people who were there with me, and you spoke to none of them,” King said to Whitlock. “You didn’t speak to C-Bo, you didn’t speak to anybody who was on Awol records. I’ve talked to those guys since,” King said.
“I stake my entire life on that story,” King added.
Whitlock brought up the 1993 incident during an interview that was mostly about an article King wrote last weekend detailing sexual assault allegations made against NFL quarterback Peyton Manning when he was a student at the University of Tennessee in 1996. (RELATED: In Heated Interview, Shaun King Says He’s ‘Blacker’ Than Black Radio Host Jason Whitlock)
Whitlock, who is black, felt that King had unfairly injected race into his coverage. King accused the majority-white media of covering up the story to protect Manning.
The interview became personal, with Whitlock telling his audience that he once interviewed King for a job but passed after doing a cursory background check. King’s story about C-Bo raised red flags for him, he said.
In the post, King claimed that in 1993, when he was 14 and living in Versailles, Ky., he had tried to contact some of his favorite rappers from the West Coast. He wrote that, much to his surprise, an associate of C-Bo’s called him on the phone one day.
“3 weeks later, I kid you not, C-Bo and Sean PICKED ME UP at my house in rural Kentucky in a Lexus. They wanted to go to the mall, do an autograph signing at a music store, and do a small concert,” King wrote.
King then claimed that he and C-Bo went to a soul food restaurant. There, hundreds of fans gathered in hopes of getting an autograph from the rapper. But the owner of the restaurant locked the doors, preventing people from entering.
“Sure enough. It happened. Somebody with a pistol started shooting through the glass and we all went scattering,” King wrote.
Many of King’s claims about his personal history and about his work for various churches and charities have come under intense scrutiny. The Daily Caller has reported on several of King’s inconsistent comments. His claim that he was attacked by up to a dozen white racists in a hate crime while in high school in 1995 was not backed up by a police report or the detective who investigated the incident. King has also made inconsistent statements about charities he’s founded and worked for.
During his interview with Whitlock, King urged the host to contact C-Bo.
“I don’t expect you to take my word for it. Why don’t you interview people who were there? Talk to C-Bo himself, talk to other people,” King said. “If you talk to C-Bo or Sean who managed Awol records back then and they say ‘you know what, that’s a completely fictional account,’ then I will eat crow.”
Though King told Whitlock that he had “talked to those guys since” the incident, his blog suggests that may not actually be the case.
King wrote on his blog that four weeks after the supposed incident, C-Bo’s partner, Sean, who was in jail, called him to ask if he still had boxes of t-shirts and CDs that the rapper took the Lexington that day.
“He said he was going to have somebody come and get them, but I never heard from those dudes again,” King wrote, contradicting his claim to have talked to the Awol Recors crew.
C-Bo, who currently raps under the West Coast Mafia label, has an extensive criminal history. In 1994, he was convicted for discharging a firearm in a negligent manner. He served time in state prison and was paroled in 1996. He was arrested and jailed again that same year for violating parole.
And in 1998, he gained national attention after he was arrested because of his rap lyrics. Authorities claimed that C-Bo’s violent rap lyrics — which included many anti-police verses — violated his parole.
C-Bo did not respond to emails sent to two of his email addresses seeking comment. Two men who claim to be friends with the rapper — including comedian Daunte Burks — say that C-Bo also told them that he was not present during the shootout King wrote about.
Whitlock responded to C-Bo’s comment on Twitter.
