Ol’ Dirty Bastard was seen as a hero after saving a 4-year-old girl’s life in 1998.
In the A&E documentary, Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys, Maati Lovell, the woman who was saved by the rapper at 4 years old along with her mother, Maxine, recalls the events that took place that day.
“Maati was nowhere,” Maxine said. “I couldn’t find her. And I kept saying, ‘Where’s my daughter? Where’s my daughter? Where’s my daughter?’ And everybody said, ‘Under the car.’ When I bent down all I saw was her. And she wasn’t crying; she wasn’t screaming. But when she saw me, then she screamed.”
The mother and daughter then explained how the Wu-Tang Clan rapper was one of the first people to come to Maati’s aid. “Some brothers came from out of nowhere,” Maxine explained. “They lifted the car. Someone slid [Maati] from underneath. She didn’t cry and she didn’t scream. She didn’t know what had happened to her. But when she saw my face, she started wailing.”
They also explained that OBD kept in touch with them to make sure she was doing fine. “He kept checking on us. He didn’t leave it like that,” Maxine said. “And I told him, ‘Anytime you need to talk, call me.’ So he would call me and tell me things that were in his head.”
She continued, “And he was glad that he was there when Maati needed assistance. I think he was trying to prove that he was a good guy and I said, ‘I agree with that. You definitely helped my child.”
The rapper spoke about the incident on “The Howard Stern Show” in 1998. “All I can do is thank God,” he said. “I just stopped my car in the middle of the street and then ran towards the car. It was like a spontaneous reaction.”
The documentary premiered on Sunday, August 25 on A&E.