50 Cent makes quip about Diddy verdict while Aubrey O'Day says she feels ‘sick' at bombshell ruling
The rapper, 55, was found not guilty despite harrowing testimony about alleged sexual abuse, forced drug binges, and so-called Freak Offs, but was convicted on two counts of transporting individuals to engage in prostitution after the jury deliberated for three days.
Each count carries up to 10 years behind bars, and federal prosecutors have already confirmed they'll push for the full 20-year sentence.
But as stars reacted to the news, Combs's rival 50 Cent was among the first to speak out, as he shared a photo of himself smiling, with the words: 'Diddy beat the Feds that boy a bad man beat the Rico....'
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Reaction: 50 Cent wrote 'Diddy beat the Feds that boy a bad man beat the Rico....'
50 Cent has long made it clear how he feels about his rap nemesis, and he's never missed a chance to troll Diddy online.
But lately, he's taken things to a whole new level, unleashing a wave of wild, AI-generated images mocking the rap mogul and the explosive allegations tied to his trial.
Meanwhile, Diddy's former protegee Aubrey O'Day came forward with her own explosive reaction.
In a video posted to her Instagram, the Danity Kane singer is seen watching the news unfold on TV, visibly shaken. 'This makes me physically ill,' she says in the clip.
Danity Kane was a multi-platinum girl group formed by Diddy on MTV's Making the Band, originally consisting of Aubrey, Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex, Aundrea Fimbres, and D Woods.
Aubrey then remarked: 'Oh my god, not guilty on Cassie!'
Cassie Ventura, Diddy's ex girlfriend and the prosecution's star witness, went through weeks of gut-wrenching testimony as she alleged that she was coerced into marathon 'freak off' sexual performances during her relationship with Combs.
In her testimony, Ventura - who was heavily pregnant as she took the stand - claimed that Combs often beat and abused her during their 11-year relationship.
During cross-examination Diddy's defense attorneys brought up text messages from their relationship where Ventura wrote that she 'loved' the Freak Offs.
Group: Danity Kane was a girl group formed by Diddy for MTV's Making The Band, and included Aubrey O'Day, Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex, Aundrea Fimbres, and D Woods
But a jury on Wednesday was not swayed by her testimony, and rejected the prosecution's top charges and only convicted Combs of transportation to engage in prostitution of Ventura and another woman.
Cassie has since given birth with her husband Alex Fine. She was not in attendance when the jury delivered the verdict on Wednesday, but her attorney was.
Following the verdict on Wednesday, Ventura's attorney praised her for 'paving the way' for the bombshell trial against one of the music industry's most powerful men.
'This entire criminal process started when our client Cassie Ventura had the courage to file her civil complaint in November 2023,' they said.
'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.'
Rosie O'Donnell also weighed in on the Diddy verdict. Taking to Instagram with a photo of the rapper, she wrote:' 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 f***ing joke - this decision got me angry #cassie.'
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'Being adopted had left a huge hole in my past and, subsequently, my heart. I frequently mourned the relationships I lost, which felt selfish. "I questioned whether I felt that way because of how I had hurt the other person, or because I had hurt myself. "We are not good or bad – we're a mix of all the feelings, and we choose which one is allowed to poke its head above water.' Even now, Kari still wrestles with the big question of why she did what she did. 'I knew what I was doing wasn't right,' she says. After her release from jail, Kari met Elliot while on probation in Utah. He was in the military and staying at the same hotel where she worked as a live-in cook. She wrote in her book: 'I felt supported and loved, and I had a dude – who I didn't even have to lie to, nor did I want to – who wanted to support and take care of me.' 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Kari has been compared to Anna Delvey – who was jailed for posing as a wealthy heiress to scam New York socialites – and Billy McFarland, who defrauded investors out of $27.4million to fund the doomed Fyre Festival. 8 'I definitely like to think of myself as being separate from them, because it does not seem that they are very remorseful,' she says, alluding to the fact that Delvey capitalised on her notoriety, even appearing on Dancing With The Stars, while McFarland, post-prison, tried to launch Fyre Festival 2. Kari notes that her scams totalled around $10,000 and that: 'Compared to them, it was minimal.' She now hopes that by speaking out and owning her past, people will see the real Kari Ferrell – not just The Hipster Grifter. 'I hope most people would consider me a good person,' she says, revealing that the reaction she gets from people is generally positive. 'I've always had a weird popularity. There were people online saying these horrible things about me, and you would expect that to translate into the real world, but it doesn't.'
