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Fat Joe was excited to meet Bruno Mars at an award show, but he claims their interaction went left when he asked the Grammy-winning artist about his Puerto Rican roots.
During a recent episode of Joe & Jada featuring Hit-Boy and The Alchemist, Fat Joe took the spotlight for a few minutes while recalling the time when Mars allegedly snapped on him.
Joe says he’s a big-time fan of Bruno’s work and he’d been waiting over a decade to meet the “24K Magic” hitmaker. “The guy next to me said, ‘You might not want to do it. He’s a fuck n—a,’” The Bronx native remembered being warned about Mars.
Still, Joey Crack went over to greet Mars, who was with his Silk Sonic collaborator Anderson .Paak.
“I said, ‘Yo, Bruno, what’s up, man?’ ‘Yo, what’s up, Joe?’ [he replied]. He’s with Anderson.Paak. I’m like, ‘Yo, you Puerto Rican?’ He got up,” Joe described, saying Mars appeared to take offense to the comment before things got hostile. “‘The f—k you mean? I’m a real Puerto Rican from Bushwick, Brooklyn! Don’t ever ask me that s–t in your life,’” Joe said Mars told him.
According to PEOPLE, Bruno Mars’ father, Peter Hernandez, is from Brooklyn and is of Jewish and Puerto Rican descent.
Fat Joe said that a frustrated Bruno removed himself from the conversation and went to sit on the other side of the venue at the unspecified awards show.
“Man, broke my heart. I wasn’t challenging him. Like, ‘tell me something. Who’s your father?’ [I asked in] the nicest way… Man, screamed on me. Went to the other room and was mad,” Joe added about the singer/producer he’s never worked professionally with. “Bruno, if you don’t remember it, I forgive you. But you did that, brother.”
Billboard reached out to Bruno Mars’ reps for comment but did not hear back at press time. Watch the full clip of Fat Joe recalling the interaction with Bruno Mars here.
