Joe Budden's explaining a controversial cut to a recent episode of his podcast... diving into why he edited a segment about Diddy, and asserting he's not in Diddy's pocket.

The hip hop commentator says he was live on "The Joe Budden Podcast" Friday when CNN posted the video of Diddy assaulting Cassie from 2016. The episode was uploaded Saturday with the description promising Joe would discuss it.

But, he never touched on it ... completely editing out the segment. Upset fans demanded answers, and JB organized a discussion on Twitter Spaces to address the controversy.

Check out the clip ... Budden's calling out the group for feeding into conspiracies he's scared of Diddy or indebted to him somehow -- before hitting the incident head-on.

Like we mentioned, Budden says he was mid-show when the news broke, and spent about four minutes discussing the vid, fully intending to release it all to the public.

But, after chatting with collaborator Emanny, Budden says he realized they hadn't addressed the issue in a meaningful way, with all the necessary care it deserves ... so, they decided to take it out.

All that said ... Budden's making it clear he's not running from the topic -- adding he and the crew will do a deep dive on Wednesday, and he's telling fans to chill.

Joe ends his speech by saying he has no relationship with Diddy or anyone in Diddy's orbit ... putting as much distance between him and the mogul as possible.

Of course, video of the incident caused an online torrent yesterday ... with a whole bunch of major stars calling out Diddy for repeatedly hitting and kicking Cassie in the clip. As we told you, police will not charge Diddy with a crime due to the statute of limitations.

Wednesday's only a short wait away ... and, it sounds like Budden's getting ready for a thorough discussion.