T.I. Responds to Critics After Suicide Intervention

No good deed goes unpunished. Despite being a good Samaritan and helping prevent an attempted suicide yesterday, T.I. is now being faced with critics who question his motives.

The “Got Your Back” hitmaker rushed to the scene upon hearing that a man was threatening to leap to his death from the top of a 22-story building in downtown Atlanta on Wednesday (Oct. 13). He made a detour on the way to a video shoot and offered to help the cops, persuading the man to come down using a heartfelt video message.

Tip, who has a court hearing scheduled Friday for his recent arrest on drug possession, said he was not motivated by his personal interests. “For one, I’m not taking any credit,” he told V103’s Ryan Cameron. “I didn’t do it… I could’ve just as well came down there and it could have been resolved in another way. The fact of the matter is that God put me in a position to help, and I can’t take any credit for that.

“I didn’t wake up this morning with the intentions of going down and helping hostage negotiators talk someone down off of a ledge. I don’t think that could be in anyone’s plan of action. If not me, then who? If not now, then when? Sometimes life happens certain ways.”

Atlanta officer James Polite vouched for Tip. “He didn’t have to stop. He could’ve kept on going about his business,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re happy it ended the way it did, and we thank him.”

The rapper also delivered a message to his supporters who have been disappointed by his repeat run-ins with the law. “All of those who have been let down by these circumstances, I want to give you my sincerest apologies and let you know that I will make it up to you and make you proud in the future.”