Despite the fact that Los Angeles Times apologized for using documents that are now considered to have been falsified, and writer Chuck Philips apologized and admitted to being “duped,” Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond does not believe it to be enough.
“I lived with the rumor of what happened to Tupac for the last 14 years,” said Rosemond to MTV News. “And rumors are rumors — either you believe them or you don’t — but when you have a reputable newspaper like the Los Angeles Times
with a Pulitzer Prize winner like Chuck Philips to validate a rumor,
then it becomes real. It becomes real in your life, real to the people
around you. When you Google me, this affects me regardless, forever. I
could always rebut a rumor, but this is something that’s well more
damaging. And I think Chuck Philips had no regards to my reputation,
for myself as a businessman, myself as a father, a family man,
somebody’s son. And I think he did irreparable damage to my career, my
reputation and everything else. I don’t think there is no other reward
for me or my family that he can do. An apology isn’t going to do it.
There has to be some form of reprimand in the sense of his job. He
needs to lose his job.”
Rosemond’s comments come after Philips’ arguments were called into question by TheSmokingGun.com. The website took issue with the supposed FBI document used in Philips’ report; the LA Times admitted shortly afterwards that they appeared fabricated.
“He took fiction and tried to make it into real life,” Rosemond said
flatly. “The Jimmy Henchman persona, something that I’ve been trying to
get away from, it was folklore, and he tried to make it into a real
character. He got caught up [talking to prison informants].“
Rosemond even indicated his hopes that someone would one day find out who actually killed Tupac. “I’m praying that he can rest in peace at this point, as far as dealing
with the Quad issue,” he said. “Let’s deal with the issue of who killed
Tupac — why did that happen? Why is the light so much on an assault
instead of the murder of Tupac? I never understood that.”