Sean "Diddy" Combs feels that he was merely giving Chris Brown shelter from the storm.
While being careful to note that he does "not think it's right for anybody to hit anybody," the hip-hop mogul said Tuesday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that he offered up his Miami Beach mansion as a refuge for Brown and Rihanna last month as a favor to a friend.
"It was a dark time for them, and I was there as more of a support," Combs explained when DeGeneres, who also grilled the media-savvy multihyphenate about his twittering capabilites, asked him to "clear something up" for her.
Rihanna and Brown spent some quiet (minus the Jet Ski) time at Combs' Star Island estate at the end of February, what was believed to be their first reunion since Brown's Feb. 8 arrest for allegedly attacking Rihanna in his rental car after the pair attended a pre-Grammy party.
With friends like these, who needs hotels?
"It's my house, and I'm allowed to give my house to whoever I want to give my house to," Diddy said. "I don't cast a stone—cast judgment on anybody. So, if friends ask me for a favor, then I'm going to be there for a favor as long as I know the energy of the favor is positive."
He's not directly involved in the situation, he added, and "I'm not going to pass judgment on it. I'm going to be there as a friend."
DeGeneres said that she wouldn't wany any woman to think that returning to an abusive relationship is the right move to make.
"I don't think it's right for anybody to hit anybody," Diddy offered. "We know sometimes relationships get ugly...We don't know exactly what's going on. There are two young individuals involved.
"We need to pray for them, and we need to do things to support them."
The talk-show chatter will continue Thursday when Oprah Winfrey devotes a whole episode to dating violence, "dedicated to all the Rihannas of the world."
(Originally published March 10, 2009 at 4:05 p.m. PT)