01-07-2025
Diddy made his career on stage. His sex-crimes trial is the biggest stage of his life.
NEW YORK — Over the last nine months, onlookers have watched the fall of Sean "Diddy" Combs in real time, after he was arrested last September and charged with racketeering and sex trafficking.
But a decade ago, we witnessed a very different kind of fall as the hitmaker performed at the 2015 BET Awards in a star-studded tribute to Bad Boy Records. For nearly 10 infectious minutes, Combs ecstatically traded bars with Mase, Lil' Kim, French Montana and Pharrell Williams, jolting the crowd to its feet in ways that few artists could.
Midway through the medley, Combs briefly tumbled through a hole in the stage in a moment that instantly went viral. But with the help of nearby fans, he quickly recovered and launched right back into his braggadocious calling card, "It's All About the Benjamins."
It's unlikely that the three-time Grammy winner will ever make such a swift recovery again, regardless of the looming verdict in his high-profile criminal trial, where multiple women have accused him of rape, assault and coercion. But in his chart-topping heyday, Combs was an unstoppable celebrity force, radiating charm on talk shows, Broadway and awards telecasts. He even made a short-lived run at comedy, with roles in "Girls Trip," "Muppets Most Wanted," "Black-ish," "Get Him to the Greek" (opposite the now-embattled comedian Russell Brand) and a Lonely Island music video.
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In the last two months, the courtroom has become his new stage. And in small ways, he's attempted to repair his image: Each day, Combs has shown up in a Manhattan courthouse donning a white collared shirt, paired with slacks and a rotating palette of blue, beige and gray sweaters. Because of prison restrictions on hair dye, his normally jet-black mane has now faded into an ashen white. At times, he wears black-rimmed reading glasses, and his facial hair has ranged from a scruffy beard to a trimmed goatee.
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It's a demure contrast to the hard-partying fashion and music mogul that jurors have heard about exhaustively on the witness stand – a man who brutally beat his ex-girlfriend, Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine, in a luxury hotel hallway, and allegedly forced a male escort to urinate in her mouth at one of the numerous drug-fueled "freak offs" he organized.
Combs chose not to testify in his trial. In fact, he's rarely been heard from at all, save for an effusive compliment to the judge before closing arguments commenced.
"I'm doing great, your honor," Combs told Judge Arun Subramanian on June 24. "I've been wanting to tell you thank you, you're doing an excellent job," which prompted laughter from Subramanian.
Otherwise, the Harlem native has primarily communicated with his family, friends and many outspoken supporters through body language.
Strolling into the courtroom every day, he frequently waved to people in the gallery, made heart signs with his hands, or clasped his palms together as he bowed his head in gratitude. Before proceedings got underway, he often hugged his attorneys and stared down journalists seated in the main courtroom. At one point, he was reprimanded by Subramanian for making prolonged direct eye contact with jurors.
Combs was largely stoic throughout the eight weeks of testimony: mostly gazing straight forward, legs crossed as he leaned back in his chair, taking the occasional sip of water or scratching down notes that he would then pass to his lawyers. His reading material was almost comically pious: the Holy Bible, "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale and "The Happiness Advantage" by Shawn Achor.
Even during a fiery outburst on June 3, when a member of the public started lobbing profanities at Combs, the rapper looked blankly at the woman before turning back around in his chair. For someone who spent decades cultivating an image of moneyed opulence and swaggering machismo, it was almost jarring to see someone so listless and nonchalant as he awaits his fate.
But there were moments that punctured his drab courtroom façade: As ex-assistants such as George Kaplan fell over themselves slathering praise on their former boss, Combs would emphatically nod at every mention of the immense empire he built. And lest you thought he was entirely egoless, he once scolded sketch artist Jane Rosenberg as the courtroom broke for lunch.
"Soften me up a bit," he told her. "You're making me look like a koala bear."
If this is indeed the fall of Combs, he clearly wishes to go down in style.
