Jamie Foxx Confused the Devil for Diddy

Jamie Foxx Photo: Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

In the year and a half since Jamie Foxx was hospitalized for an unspecified illness in April 2023, there’s been rampant speculation about the cause and nature of his condition. In his new Netflix special, What Had Happened Was …, the comedian addresses the rumors head-on, and spoiler alert: It had nothing to do with Diddy. The cause of his hospitalization, he explains, was a “brain bleed that led to a stroke,” which caused him to black out for 20 days. In the special, which is closer in tone to a dramatic speech or church sermon than a standard stand-up hour or focused one-person show, he goes on to detail the harrowing mental and physical rehabilitation journey back to health and expresses his gratitude for having a second chance at life.

The special has jokes, but most take the form of topical musings or impersonations of people, like Donald Trump and Denzel Washington, who have little to do with the story he’s telling. At one point, though, he takes the opportunity to dismiss the online conspiracy that his illness was a cover for the fact that Diddy tried to have him killed for knowing too much about his sexual transgressions. “Hell no. I left them parties early,” he said. “I was out by nine: Something don’t look right. It’s slippery in here.” He did, however, joke that he felt Diddy’s presence when he was close to death. He was in the tunnel on the way to the afterlife, he said, and noticed it was hot. Shit, am I going to the wrong place in this motherfucker? he remembers thinking. “Because I looked at the end of the tunnel, and I thought I saw the Devil [being] like, ‘Come on.’ Or is that Puffy?” I wonder if Diddy gets Netflix in jail.