Celebrities React To Diddy Trial Verdict
Combs was found guilty on two out of five charges: two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Each guilty count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, so the music mogul now faces up to 20 years in prison.
Combs was acquitted of the most serious charges: one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. He had pleaded 'not guilty' to all charges.
Actor Mariska Hargitay reshared an Instagram post from Glamour magazine that critiqued Combs. The first slide read, 'We won't forget what we saw you did to Cassie on that video,' referring to the 2016 footage of Combs physically assaulting Cassie.
Mariska then reposted another slide that said, 'Combs joins a long line of powerful and famous men who have allegedly engaged in abuse, yet faced minimal consequence.'
Aubrey O'Day, who was previously signed to Combs's Bad Boy Records label, shared her live reaction to the verdict on Instagram. 'Oh, this makes me physically ill. Cassie probably feels so horrible. I'm gonna vomit,' she said.
She later shared a longer, written statement that read: 'I'm still unpacking the magnitude of it all. The cultural weight of this decision is immeasurable. It is heartbreaking to witness how many lives have been impacted by their experiences with Sean Combs -- only for those stories to fall short in the eyes of a judge. I can only hope these jurors never have to watch someone they love endure what so many survivors have described.'
Rosie O'Donnell was also among those condemning the verdict of the trial. 'I guess a jury just never wants to believe that a woman stays because of power and coercion- wow - they just think women stay because what? money - fame - 'they love the abuse' - what a fucking joke - this decision got me angry #cassie,' she wrote on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Evan Rachel Wood said of the verdict, 'There is no consent in a domestic violence relationship. Period. Once the threat of violence is there, you comply. You do not consent. It is self preservation and survival. It is not freely or willingly given. It is forced and coerced out of you. We clearly have a long way to go in our understanding of this.'
Christina Ricci shared a sweet message of support towards Cassie, writing on Instagram: 'Sending so much love and respect to @cassie today. She is an inspiration and a hero and I stand with her.'
Moreover, Cassie's lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, released a statement to the press on July 2 after the news of Combs's verdict broke. 'This entire criminal process started when our client Cassie Ventura had the courage to file her civil complaint in November 2023,' he wrote. 'Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution.'
'By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice. We must repeat — with no reservation — that we believe and support our client who showed exemplary courage throughout this trial,' the statement read.
'She displayed unquestionable strength and brought attention to the realities of powerful men in our orbit and the misconduct that has persisted for decades without repercussion. This case proved that change is long overdue, and we will continue to fight on behalf of survivors,' Wigdor added.
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USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
Diddy verdict, 'Alligator Alcatraz' and Rosie's rant: The week in review
Diddy acquitted of most severe sex charges A jury in New York cleared music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs of the most severe of the sex trafficking charges against him but convicted him of lesser prostitution-related crimes after a nearly two-month-long federal trial replete with sordid stories of sex parties and physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Had he been convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering, Combs, 55, could have faced life in prison; instead, the jury found him guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which carries a maximum 10-year term on each count. Combs was denied bail and ordered to remain in jail until sentencing, possibly in October. Diddy's life, career in photos: Revisit the rise and fall of Sean Combs Trump opens the gates to 'Alligator Alcatraz' President Donald Trump toured the controversial Florida detention facility known as 'Alligator Alcatraz,' joining Gov. Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem to show off the newly opened and refurbished vacant site where the administration plans to detain up to 5,000 migrants. It rests in the Everglades, an area infamously inhabited by alligators, pythons and other exotic and sometimes dangerous wildlife. 'Biden wanted me in here, OK?' Trump quipped to reporters, standing next to the facility's chain-link cages. 'Didn't work out that way.' Opponents have called the facility inhumane and environmentally irresponsible. Buy now, pay later, then check your credit score It should be no surprise that those convenient buy now, pay later purchase plans come with strings attached − namely, the "pay later" part − but soon there will be another string: Come fall, those loans will be factored into your credit score. The credit scoring service FICO announced the change as buy now, pay later has become increasingly popular, especially among Gen Zers and millennials. The risks of overusing BNPL are obvious − miss payments, and your credit score could tank − but there's an upside: Buyers who pay on time stand to boost their scores. The experts' advice: Proceed with caution, check your credit score online, and read the fine print. Rosie did not hold her peace for this union Rosie O'Donnell has long been outspoken on politics, but she turned an especially harsh lens on the lavish, star-studded wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez in Italy. 'The BEZOS wedding, it turned my stomach. Seeing all these billionaires gathering in the gross excess of it all,' O'Donnell wrote in a poem-style post on Instagram. She called Sánchez the Amazon founder's 'fake fembot wife,' wondered 'why would he choose her,' and suggested Bezos 'sold his soul. … The devil is smiling at all his conquests.' Presumably, Rosie was not on the guest list. Wimbledon shocker: Coco Gauff falls in first round Wimbledon 2025 was turned upside down early as No. 2-ranked Coco Gauff, winner of the French Open just weeks ago, was knocked out in the first round by 42nd-ranked Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 7-6(3), 6-1. Gauff joined No. 3 seed and fellow American Jessica Pegula, who lost to No. 116 Elisabetta Cocciaretta of Italy 6-2, 6-3 in another first-round stunner. It's the first time since 1968 that two of the top three seeds have fallen in Wimbledon's opening round. All told, four women ranked in the top 10 were sent packing in the first round. − Compiled and written by Robert Abitbol, USA TODAY copy chief
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
I've watched Sean Combs get acquitted twice. Over 24 years, his recklessness and eye for star lawyers never changed.
Back in 2001, he was "Puffy." For two months, Sean "Puffy" Combs strode through a dense press scrum and into his Manhattan guns and bribery trial wearing a different crisp, shiny suit each day. I remember neckties and matching pocket squares. And one morning, before the judge took the bench, he sat at the defense table, arms outstretched, as defense attorneys Johnnie Cochrane and Ben Brafman sat on either side, affixing his cufflinks. "If it doesn't make sense, you must find for the defense," the late Cochrane, a dapper dresser best known for his defense of OJ Simpson six years earlier, quipped for reporters. I covered that state-level case for the New York Post, watching as Combs, then 31, won a full acquittal after his lawyers convinced a jury that he did not fire a bullet from a 9mm semiautomatic Smith & Wesson into the ceiling of a Times Square nightclub. Jurors also acquitted him of offering his chauffeur $50,000 to take the rap for another gun found under the seat of the Lincoln Navigator he shared with then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez. Combs had faced up to 15 years in prison in that case. "This has changed me and matured me," he promised after the happy outcome, saying he had given up nightclubbing in favor of church-going. On Wednesday, 24 years later, I watched as a senior correspondent for Business Insider as a very different-looking Combs won surprise acquittals on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a federal courthouse barely a block south of where the prior trial was held. A jury found him guilty of lesser Mann Act charges related to transporting his victims for prostitution. This Combs — now "Diddy" — remains in custody, as he has for the past 10 months. Each day of the trial, he was escorted into the courtroom by federal marshals, wearing jail-approved khakis and a rotation of five thin, blandly colored sweaters over white collared shirts. His hair is mostly gray now, deprived by his jailers of the "Just For Men" brand dye that one of his personal assistants testified he kept in his toiletry bag. A quarter century ago, Sean "Puffy" Combs exuded swagger in court — even something approaching menace. "I'm a human being," I remember him saying as he glowered at me in the hallway once, unhappy about his coverage. But Sean "Diddy" Combs could be Puffy's pleasant uncle, passing out Post-it notes full of advice and encouragement from his seat at the defense table like so many half-wrapped Jolly Roger candies. "GREAT JOB!!!" read a note I once saw him hand lead attorney Marc Agnifilo. Each morning and again at day's end, Diddy greeted most of his nine lawyers with hugs and fist bumps. Puffy, circa 2001, was too aloof to be a hugger of attorneys — not until the verdict, when Combs, Brafman, and Cochran leaned in for a euphoric, seated embrace. But there are throughlines linking then and now. For both trials, an international press corps was drawn, moth-to-flame, by the certainty of a celebrity defendant and the hope that a still-bigger celebrity might steal the show. J-Lo had been briefly in custody soon after the nightclub shooting, after a stolen gun was found inside her and Combs' chauffeured car. She was not charged, and while she testified at Combs' grand jury, neither side called her as a trial witness. This time around, Kanye, too, disappointed; his cameo appearance at Combs' courthouse last month was over in a blink, 30 minutes tops. He was turned away from the courtroom by federal marshals, and Combs, like many in the press, didn't even see him. Combs' recklessness is another parallel. His lawyers acknowledged in closing arguments last week that Combs used drugs and committed domestic violence. Federal agents testified at trial that they seized three AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers when search warrants were executed at Combs' homes in March, 2024, at a time when prosecutors allege he knew he was under investigation. Combs was not charged for the weapons, and maintained through his lawyer that the guns belonged to his security guards. "His brazenness is unmatched," lead prosecutor Maurene Comey told US District Judge Arun Subramanian during successful arguments against bail on Wednesday. "He's an extremely violent man with an extraordinarily dangerous temper, who has shown no remorse and no regret for his violence toward multiple victims," she said. There was reckless behavior the last time Combs was arrested, too. An evening of clubbing with a gun-toting entourage nearly cost Combs his freedom and burgeoning career as a multimillionaire music and lifestyle entrepreneur. New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon sentenced Combs codefendant Jamal "Shyne" Barrow to 10 years in state prison. (Barrow, then 21, had the unfortunate timing of running out of the club and into the arms of two arriving cops, a recently-fired gun still warm in his waistband.) Solomon told me Thursday that he would have sentenced Combs to three and a half years in prison and remanded him on the spot, had he been convicted of gun possession for the firearm police recovered under the front seat of the Navigator. Combs could have received more time, the now-retired judge said, given that the car had fled up Eighth Avenue with Combs and J-Lo in the back seat and the NYPD in pursuit. "Another gun came flying out the car from the back seat" during the chase, Solomon recalled. Another through-line — good lawyering. "He had Ben, one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the city, and of course Johnnie Cochrane," Solomon said of the 2001 trial. "And it worked. They certainly had enough to find him guilty," Solomon said. "That weapon in the car — there was a presumption of possession," Solomon said. "Maybe it was jury nullification, who knows." "He's a lot of things to a lot of different people. He's probably helped a lot of people make a lot of very good music, helped a lot of careers, started a lot of businesses," he added. Combs' acquittal on sex trafficking and racketeering means he no longer faces a potential life sentence. He faces anywhere from zero jail time to as much as 20 years in federal prison for the two counts he was convicted of on Wednesday: transporting two ex-girlfriends across state lines to engage in sex acts with male escorts — the so-called "freak offs" at the heart of the trial. "It's a partial win. He didn't win this case. He still faces considerable time," Solomon said. "Oh my god I certainly would," he said when asked if he'd give Combs' prison time if he were once again Combs' judge. "I would give him a lot of time," he added. "Because of what he did in the past, obviously, his background, and the violence involved here now. A leopard doesn't change his spots."
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' former chef says she's afraid of retaliation after verdict: ‘Fear for my safety'
The former personal chef to Sean 'Diddy' Combs says she now fears for her safety after the Bad Boy Records founder was acquitted of the most serious charges in his federal sex trafficking trial. On Wednesday, the 'I'll Be Missing You' rapper, 55, was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted on two sex-trafficking charges and one racketeering charge. Following the verdict, Jourdan Atkinson — who alleges she was a witness and victim of his physical abuse during her tenure — sent a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian asking that Combs be denied bail while awaiting sentencing, which the judge ultimately agreed to. Advertisement 5 The former personal chef to Sean 'Diddy' Combs says she now fears for her safety. @thejourdanchataun/Instagram Atkinson later took to social media to share a series of videos on Instagram, as well as a copy of a subpoena she had received from the Southern District of New York in 2024. The private chef was one of the government's witnesses, though she did not testify at the trial. Advertisement In the clips, Atkinson alleged that Combs had physically abused her during the time she had worked for him. 'This is a grave miscarriage of justice,' she said in the video. 'I stand on everything that I have always said.' She also alleged that she saw Combs abuse his ex-girlfriend, Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, of which there was proof in a hotel surveillance video shared by CNN last year. Advertisement 'I am not okay. I have not been okay. I do not feel safe. I do not know where to go from here,' Atkinson captioned her post. 'I stand with Cassie, as I always have. I do not understand the way this case was handled. We have all been put in danger. FOR WHAT?' 5 The Bad Boy Records founder was acquitted of the most serious charges in his federal sex trafficking trial. AP 5 He was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and was acquitted on two sex-trafficking charges and one racketeering charge. Department of Justice Advertisement In her letter to the judge, Atkinson said she now fears the rapper will retaliate against her and the other people who were subpoenaed ahead of trial. 'I'd like to express how terrifying this whole ordeal has been for me personally,' she wrote to Judge Subramanian. 'This past year and a half has been traumatizing. This verdict is devastating.' 'I fear for my safety upon his release,' she added. 5 Atkinson alleged that she saw Combs abuse his ex-girlfriend, Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, of which there was proof in a hotel surveillance video. U.S. Attorneys SDNY 5 Atkinson alleges she was a witness and victim of his physical abuse during her tenure. @thejourdanchataun/Instagram The acquittals on the sex trafficking counts mean he will avoid a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. He could have faced life in prison if he were convicted of sex trafficking or racketeering conspiracy. Combs now faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence on each of the two prostitution counts.
