Joe Budden has finally spoken out directly about the departure of Melyssa Ford from his show, The Joe Budden Podcast. Sitting down with Jim Jones for his Artist 2 Artist podcast, Budden explained that he still has love for Ford and he didn't bring in Mona Love just to swap co-hosts.
"I didn't do a swap," he clarified when asked if Mona is replacing Ford. "Melyssa stepped away and Mel was negotiating for quite some time. Shout out to Melyssa. We love her." From there, they continued to praise Mona's sense of humor and what she brings to the show.
Fans on social media were happy to see Budden's kind words. "A diplomatic answer. Our guy is really acting like he owns a 20 millionaire company in these spaces. Alright now Mr. Joe," one user wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Another added: "Hopefully this ends the talk. Some of Ya get real nasty when it comes to talking about Mel. She gone, Mona there, enjoy."
Why Did Melyssa Ford Leave The Joe Budden Podcast?
Fans have largely been left in the dark about Ford's departure from The Joe Budden Podcast, leading to tons of speculation. Her appearances on the show began to become more infrequent in recent months until they eventually stopped altogether. In turn, fans started theorizing that they had a falling out.
Despite not mentioning Budden, Ford recently vented to Charlamagne Tha God about the prevalence of misogyny in the male-dominated podcast community. "I've had my own experiences being around a certain group of men who have exhibited groupthink," she said. "And that groupthink tends to lean very misogynistically. It has an effect on you as somebody who is just kind of absorbing it, simply just because I'm a woman and I'm the woman in the room."
Elsewhere in Joe Budden's interview with Jim Jones, the two discussed the state of music industry, starting a podcast, and much more.
