On Monday, I skewered Kanye West in a commentary over his audacious demand that everyone call him Ye. He was aping Sean P. Diddy Combs (aka Puff Daddy), who has made similar demands over the years.
More to the point, I noted that Ye was channeling Diddy in ways that could see both facing bankruptcy and even imprisonment stemming from allegations of sexual abuse.
Feds raid Diddy’s homes
Mere hours after I posted that commentary on Ye, this news broke:
Two properties belonging to music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami were searched Monday by federal Homeland Security Investigations agents and other law enforcement as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.
(The Associated Press, March 25, 2024)
Rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson plays the Shakespearean Jester in the realm of Hip-Hop gossip. As a point of reference, you could think of his G-Unit posse and Diddy’s Bad-Boy posse, like The Jets and The Sharks from West Side Story.
That’s why 50 Cent had everyone all atwitter on Tuesday when he reacted on X to these raids on Diddy’s homes with this foreboding jibe:
Now it’s not Diddy do it, it’s Diddy done they don’t come like that unless they got a case.
But, in fairness to 50 Cent, most people in the music industry are reacting more with schadenfreude than alarm.
Cassie: from muse to nemesis
Of course, 50 Cent was just mocking his rival. This has been his schtick for years whenever Bad Boy Diddy was dealing with bad news. He did so, most notoriously, last year when Diddy’s long-term girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, filed a lawsuit that triggered this investigation.
She sued him for emotional and sexual abuse. Among other things, Cassie alleged that Diddy was prone to uncontrollable rages, which often resulted in savage beatings. And that he would ply her with drugs for “Freak off” sex sessions with other men, which he got off on watching and recording.
Cassie, now aged 37, warned she had documentation for every allegation. It all began when she was a starry-eyed 19-year-old whose music career this mogul promised to mentor. Ironically enough, Diddy, now aged 54, was 37 when it all began.
He reportedly settled with Cassie for $100 million. But several other victims followed suit, claiming he subjected them to similar abuse.
Diddy ‘blindsided’
TMZ reported yesterday that Diddy had no idea the feds were investigating him. But that’s almost as shocking as the allegations he’s facing.
After all, anyone in their right mind would know sex-trafficking allegations in so many lawsuits would trigger a federal investigation. But, evidently, Diddy don’t know diddly-squat.
But he’s not taking this investigation lying down. He’s channeling no less a person than Donald J. Trump, the adjudged rapist and twice-impeached former president of the United States who is defending himself in four criminal trials.
A lawyer for music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs said Tuesday the rapper was being targeted by a ‘witch hunt’ after civil lawsuits accused him of sexual misconduct and federal authorities raided two of his properties.
(Reuters, March 27, 2024)
Mind you, Diddy is not only using Trump’s “witch hunt” canard for show. He’s telegraphing his intent to do all he can to swing Black voters to help Trump get elected. And he’s doing so for the same reason Trump himself needs to get elected: to escape prison. Yo, Ye…
My bet? He’ll soon be hanging with R. Kelly … ‘Forever’! Like movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, this music mogul probably thought he was too big to jail. #HimToo…
So, despite paying off Cassie and so many other victims, he will still end up in prison — where he belongs. And no doubt she will lead victims in hailing that as poetic justice. But I can’t be the only one wondering when JLo is going to claim, MeToo…