How the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial might affect hip-hop
Sean “Diddy” Combs spent most of his career as an influential figure in hip-hop; now he is on trial over human trafficking allegations. NBC News’ Gadi Schwartz talks to Variety Senior Music Writer Steven J. Horowitz about how this trial might affect the genre.
Cassie’s graphic testimony may set the stage for what’s to come
In the first week of testimony in Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial in New York, Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, described over four days on the witness stand a tumultuous relationship with the music impresario that began in her early 20s and lasted on and off for over a decade. As the government’s star witness, her responses gave a window into a world centered around paid sexual encounters lasting days and sometimes occurring weekly — known as “freak offs” — that she said she was forced to endure under the threat of physical and psychological abuse.
The “freak offs” were so regular, she said, they “became a job.”
Much of what Ventura, 38, testified to was graphic, from the sex acts with male escorts to the violence, including the fights with Combs that left her covered in bruises, she said, if she attempted to refuse a “freak off.” A visibly pregnant Ventura also recounted how, she said, Combs raped her on her living room floor in 2018, which he has denied.
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