As you have probably heard by now, former NBA star Lamar Odom is fighting for his life in a Nevada hospital after being found unconscious in a brothel north of Las Vegas. For the last several days, family and friends have been rushing to see him; according to what little information can be confirmed, Odom has been on life support for at least part of that time. Those visitors have included Odom's estranged wife, the reality star Khloe Kardashian, and Kobe Bryant, who left a Los Angeles Lakers preseason game early to make it to the hospital. Yesterday (Oct. 15), No Limit Records founder--and former sort-of NBA player--Master P had plenty to say about Kobe et al. P questioned the loyalty of those who he felt abandoned Odom in his time of need; he has been dogged for years by rumors of addiction.

The music mogul came under intense scrutiny for his words--and Kobe seemingly responded to him on Twitter--and he has today come back to clarify. In a statement on his Facebook page, P said that he had to "stop dealing with" Odom several years ago, while the latter was apparently in the grips of a drug problem. He cites D. L. Hughley and laments his inability to steer Odom in the right direction, all while explaining that he has respect for Kobe and the Lakers organization. Read his statement in its entirety below:

Master P speaks truth..he says, "If you're real with someone, you keep it real through the good and bad times. I understand first hand from dealing with my own brother that was living recklessly, I had to show him tough love but I'd never cut him off because we're blood. I'm not pointing thefinger at anyone, Lamar's unfortunate situation is a result of his own decisions and actions. I can relate to D.L. Hugley's statement on dealing with family members with addictions, it's draining. I'm not a phony, I can admit that I stopped dealing with Lamar years ago for those same reasons.

Eventhough I've known Lamar for over 15 years, it wasn't like we were the best of friends. I tried to mentor him and give him advice but he is a grown man and made his own decisions. You can't help anyone that don't want any help and I get that, that 's life. So that's why I stopped dealing with Lamar, it's not like we're blood related where I would have to put up with his reckless behavior. I'm sure Lamar has many people in his life such as family members, friends, colleagues, teammates, significant others who have stopped dealing with him but I'm just not afraid to openly admit it, due to his unfortunate medical situation.

I can also admit that me and my family are far from perfect, we have situations we're dealing with. My prayers are going out to Lamar and his family. I pray that he comes out of this, he may have a rocky past but overall he's a good brother. And the only reason I'm not running to the hospital to visit him, I'm not looking for publicity, I don't need it. Only when I was asked, I stated my opinion on what I knew about this man from the times I was around him. Lamar complained about how everybody turned their backs on him, even his nba buddies.

But then people blew my opinion out of proportion. I understand that Kobe is one of the greatest basketball players in the world and people are going to side with him. I have nothing against Kobe or the Lakers. I have nothing to hide and I'm willing to speak face to face with anybody, with Kobe or Kardashians about the conversations that Lamar and I have had concerning him trying to get his life back together and getting back into the league. I'm not about entertaining no mess and I'm only speaking on this because I knew this brother. I hope that if ever I was in a similar situation where I couldn't speak for
myself, that somebody would keep it 100 for me. The truth hurts, even in Hollywood.

My condolences to the people that really love him. And I am not trying to question the support of others that are truly grieving, this is a critical, life and death situation. This is only my opinion, it's just sad that last month no one had anything positive to say about Lamar.. and that's what I meant by being phony.

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