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Oct. 25, 2024 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
39:19
20241025_diddys-makeup-artist-speaks-out-with-dj-vlad-and-j
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Shocking Allegations and Character Assessment 00:03:32
No, I owe a lot to Puff with my career because he taught me really everything I know about the industry.
You say you're very surprised and shocked by what's now come out.
I wouldn't be shocked if I'd seen what happened to Cassie.
I'd think this guy's a monster.
Do you feel any sense of guilt that you didn't report him?
We were terrified of Sean.
I wish that I could have done something more.
If you were called to testify against him, would you do that?
There are a lot of people who were checking their role in Texas and making sure they weren't at particular parties because I think it can ruin careers.
I thought Puffy was a phoney.
I thought he pretended to be like a gangster, pretended to be tough, where in reality, he was the first to go to bed.
I mean, there's the music and then there is the person making the music.
There are three deadly people on this panel.
Me, you, and DJ Vlad.
They do not like the fact that the three of us are here talking right now.
The P. Diddy scandal has rocked the music industry to its core and new tremors are reverberating daily.
A slew of new lawsuits makes damning claims about more sexual abuse, including with a 13-year-old girl.
50 Cent says he's been raising the alarm for more than a decade.
But six of Diddy's children say their father was the victim of a grand conspiracy theory.
Every day there are new and damning allegations from the people who knew him best.
And over the next hour or so, we're going to hear even more of them.
Well, joining me now is the podcast from commentator Jason Lee, attorney Benjamin Chu, who represented Johnny Depp in his defamation case against Amber Heard, the former Diddy publicist and host of the naughty but nice podcast, Rob Shooter, and from Vlad TV, DJ Vlad.
Welcome to all of you.
I'm going to start first by talking to Mila Morales, who worked as Sean Combs' makeup artist for many years and was also friends with Cassandra Cassie Ventura, as well as Diddy's deceased partner, Kim Porter.
Well, welcome to Uncensored Myla.
Just to paint a picture of how well you know P. Diddy, how long did you work for him?
I worked with Sean Combs in 2000, early 2000, until 2005.
So around five years?
I was five years or so, yes.
And how much time did you spend with him?
I spent a lot of like, you know, obviously I did his male grooming.
So we did a lot of, you know, it was strictly professional and we spent video shoots, photo shoots.
I traveled the world with Kim and Sean because, you know, he invented the glam.
I mean, he invented the entourage.
So I would travel with Kim and Puff to San Trope to make sure that Kim was ready for the paparazzi.
And what was he like?
I mean, when you were around him then, albeit this is quite a long time ago, 20 years ago, but what was your assessment?
Being that close to him for that length of time, what was your assessment of his character?
Well, Puff was a perfectionist, and he was just a completely hard worker.
He wanted everything to look grandioso.
And, you know, he taught me really everything I know about the industry.
Like, as far as like, you know, being super professional, super just everything was so just grandioso.
Why the Surprise Persists 00:15:17
But has your view now changed?
I mean, absolutely.
I mean, it's, this is 24 years later and it's shocking to hear all these allegations.
It's completely shocking.
Shocking to hear them?
Is it surprising given everything that you may have gleaned about him in that period?
It is surprising.
Yes, it is.
I mean, it's been, you know, hearing all of this.
I mean, you know, I owe a lot to Puff with my career because, you know, I've worked with the biggest photographers in the world, the biggest directors in the world.
And, you know, we've met, we would go to Paris Fashion Weeks.
I mean, we were running around with like the biggest names in the business.
So, you know, to hear all of this happening right now is just, it's shocking.
You see, the reason I'm curious why you find it that shocking is that in 2010, you were very close to Cassie as well.
And we've seen this horrific video, which emerged last year at CNN from several years prior, where he literally...
Well, I'm just going to ask you, I'm going to just let the viewers know where I'm going here.
You know, there was this appalling video that we're now seeing where he literally beats her up in public in a hotel on a floor of a hotel, but in a public area.
And it was absolutely despicable.
Now, you said about that, that it wasn't a one-off, that when Cassie was beaten up on a separate occasion in 2010, you took her in, you said.
We didn't even want to go to hospital.
So I had a doctor friend of mine come and take a look at her.
She was badly bruised, had knots on her head and a black eye.
We were scared.
I still have PTSD talking about it.
That's nearly 15 years ago.
So my only question to you is, given that, given what you witnessed then, given what you knew had happened, and given what we all then saw with the second incident on that horrific video, actually, why are you that surprised about these allegations that have come to light?
I mean, for me, it's like it's just reliving the whole situation over again.
And that to me is the shocking part of it.
You know, I block that.
That's PTSD.
That's trauma that I experienced from back then.
And reliving it is just really, you know, difficult for me to experience because I've known Cassie since she was 17 years old.
And I was like her big sister, as well as her makeup artist.
And just watching all of this is, it's absolutely shocking.
Right.
But I mean, the reality is it's just...
But just based on what you witnessed that day in 2010 and based on what we've all seen in the other video, the guy, at the very least, was a person who beat up women.
And yet the picture you painted of him of your time with him, you know, in the early 2000s was actually very positive.
And you say you're very surprised and shocked by what's now come out.
I wouldn't be shocked if I'd seen what happened to Cassie at firsthand and the way you did.
I think this guy's a monster.
And I'm curious why that isn't what you're thinking or have you blanked that out?
Oh, I've absolutely blanked it out all these years because it's something that I was very focused on my career.
And so what happened then, you know, obviously we couldn't discuss with anyone.
So I had to like blank it out of my brain.
Do you wish with hindsight?
You want to continue on?
Right, but do you wish with hindsight, and I'm not, listen, I'm not accusing you of doing anything wrong.
I'm just saying, do you wish with hindsight to prevent him treating other people in such a horrendous manner?
Do you wish you'd taken it to the police, to authorities?
Of course.
I mean, absolutely.
But, you know, these are things that we couldn't do because we were terrified of Sean.
Right.
See, that's really interesting because that wasn't how you described him at the start of this.
So tell me about that.
Clearly, there's another side to this guy, to the one that you painted when we first started talking.
And the other side to him is appalling, isn't it?
I mean, he wielded this power, this influence, this terror over you.
Tell me about that.
Sorry.
I mean, like I said, like at the beginning of, you know, my career with Puff, you know, it was just like, you know, we were rising to the top.
And like, when it got to the point with Cassie, it was like very difficult for me to like just, I mean, deal with that.
Like, I, like, even right now, it's just, it, it gives me like trauma.
And so watching all this, all these allegations unfold, it's, it's, I mean, being an industry professional, that's all I cared about.
And like, I don't know what goes on like behind closed doors.
So that's not, you know, somewhere, that's not something for me to like even think about.
And so when, you know, watching this unfold, it's been really difficult for me to like, you know, like stomach.
Right, but it wasn't, I mean, just respectfully, it wasn't behind closed doors because in 2010, Cassie came to you after he beat her up.
Well, no, but I was there.
I was actually with her that night.
Right.
But that's what I mean, is that you knew it was happening because you were there.
Do you feel any sense of guilt that you didn't report it?
Of course, absolutely.
I feel a lot of guilt.
I mean, I've been feeling that this whole entire year, you know, because I wish that I could have done something more.
But at the time, we were both very terrified.
So it's like, what were we supposed to do?
You said, this is a quote from you, we were always scared of Puff.
He's a powerful person.
We don't know what would have happened to us if we've spoken out.
He could make you disappear.
I mean, that sounds like you're saying he would basically have you killed.
I mean, who knows?
Who knows?
We were just scared.
Did you genuinely think he might have you killed?
No, I don't.
I was just saying that because that's something that, you know, it's a thought.
It's just not, I don't know if it would happen.
It was a thought.
That's a pretty extraordinary thought to have, Myla, about someone, isn't it?
They have the potential capability to do that.
Well, it was a thought.
Did you fear he might kill Cassie?
I don't know if I.
I mean, like I said, I don't know.
That's not something that, you know, like I have no idea.
It's just, you know, to fear that, yes, but, you know, to actually like, I can't answer that question.
I really can't.
It's not.
He came out, did he, after the second attack that we knew about.
There have been reports of multiple others.
He put a video apology out.
Let's take a look at this.
My behavior on that video is inexcusable.
I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.
I was disgusted then when I did it.
I'm disgusted now.
I went and I sought out professional help.
I'm so sorry.
But I'm committed to be a better man every day.
What do you make of that video?
I mean, I just, it was, I didn't believe it.
Right.
Because you knew he'd done it before.
Exactly.
I mean, if he's done it before, then, you know, making an apology letter or apology video, that just holds no value for me.
There are a lot of rumors that he may have had some involvement in Kim's death.
What do you feel about those rumors?
I mean, I don't know.
I can't answer that question.
I mean, those are rumors, and that's not something that I can answer.
Given everything that you've now read and heard about him, do you think it's possible?
Possibly.
I don't know.
Like I said, I can't answer that question.
The indictments against him center around these freak-off parties where it's alleged a lot of coercion, assault, abuse, drugs, and so on took place.
Did you know about these parties?
Did you ever attend them?
Absolutely not.
I mean, I was there just to do my job, and I don't know anything about those parties.
Like, I'm actually in shock to hear about them at this point.
Like, I was there to do my job during the working hours, and then I would go home and work the next day.
I mean, I had nothing to do with that.
Absolutely nothing.
Was it not common knowledge that he had these late after parties, these freak-offs?
Not for me.
I had no idea.
What do you think is going to happen to him, Milo?
I mean, it.
I'm not really sure.
I mean, he, I'm not sure.
It's just, it makes me very sad to see, you know, the outcome of all of this.
Like, just to see his legacy, like, where it is now and how we started.
So it makes me very sad.
Do you, I mean, his children have come out with a powerful statement saying the past month has devastated our family.
Many have judged both him and us based on accusations, conspiracy theories, and false narratives that have spiraled into absurdity on social media.
We stand united supporting you, Puffy, every step of the way.
We hold on to the truth, knowing it will prevail, and nothing will break the strength of our family.
We miss you and love you, Dad.
Now, you would expect kids to support their father, but the sheer welter of allegations, the horrific detail that's contained in them, the fact that this has all been run by the FBI, who obviously have pretty much an impeccable record of conviction with these kind of cases, it is more likely than not now that he's never coming out of prison.
And what do I think about it?
Yeah.
I feel very sad for his children, especially his children, because, I mean, they didn't ask for this, and now they have no mother and they're not going to have a father.
And that really is, that's devastating for me.
Like, the children are, I don't know what to, I don't know how to look at this.
Marla, just for me, what's your biggest regret with all this, given what's now been coming out?
My biggest regret is not coming forward to the police about what happened in 2010.
Have you now been approached to talk about that?
Have they asked you about that now to do a formal interview?
No.
Are you expecting them to?
I hope not.
I mean, I just, this has all been very traumatic for me, like, all of this.
But if you were called to testify against him, would you do that?
I don't.
No.
You wouldn't?
No, I don't think so.
Myla, listen, I know it's very difficult for you.
And like I said, I'm not making any suggestion that you knew about any of this other than obviously what you witnessed with Paul Cassie.
And I appreciate you joining me.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Well, let me turn to the panel now to talk about all this.
Jason, you know, I think there's probably a lot of people who were around Diddy during the last 25 years or so who might well share Myla's horror and shock about what's happened.
What did you make of what she said?
One of the conversations that people are having is how many people were around and knew about the Diddy After Dark parties.
There's some of us that went to the Diddy parties.
Everybody in the culture, everybody that is a celebrity wanted to go to these parties because they were the party that you had to go to.
But this Diddy After Dark situation that none of us were privileged to go to, thank God.
You know, I want to know who are all the people that were there and why are they not being indicted?
Why is everything being kept so confidential?
Why can't we see more information so we can have a bigger picture?
You know, that is the frustrating part because a lot of us that know these people are still among them and we would like them to be held accountable as well.
You know, I feel for his children, like she said, you know, the kids that I do know, I've said many times are good kids.
And reading some of their statements about, you know, their books being pulled, you know, their mother's legacy now being caught up in this whirlwind created by their father and all these allegations has been disappointing to see.
But I guess it's just par for the course in today's times.
Ben Chu, you represented Johnny Depp.
He obviously went through a whole very highly publicized court case and ended up being acquitted with Amber Heard of, you know, there weren't the serious allegations, but they were certainly quite serious in their own right.
When you look at the case against Diddy, it's obviously on a massively bigger scale, but do you think that the FBI basically have their man?
Is there enough there, do you think, to get a lengthy conviction?
Here's very good to be with you.
Just to clarify, the depthy hurt case, Johnny was the plaintiff in that civil action for defamation.
He had the burden of proof to show that Ms. Hurd had lied about the allegations about him and that she did so with actual malice.
And he won that case.
He was never charged civilly.
He was never charged criminally.
And he was completely vindicated by the jury.
But in answer to your question, I think they do have their men.
I think the two, just the threshold required, as you know, Piers, to get search warrants for both of his residents is a very high standard in the U.S.
Criminal Liability and Public Opinion 00:10:30
And they had to show probable cause even to get those warrants.
They got them.
I think the evidence is overwhelming.
And you referred to the Cassie video.
I think that is also devastating.
I think that's going to force him to testify.
And I think he's going to have to do an awful lot better than he did in that apology video if he's going to convince one or two jurors to hang that jury.
I don't like his chances.
And how significant is the likes of Mila Morales, who I just interviewed, who in 2010, before that other incident, which we saw on that horrific video, years before that, she was with Cassie after she'd been attacked by Diddy on that occasion.
How important could that be if it comes to it?
Oh, I think it's very important.
And I think your video is so damaging at any trial, whether it's criminal or civil, because it's hard to explain away.
If there isn't video or if there isn't audio, then there's open to doubt.
But when you've got the audio tape or videotape, it's just, as you know, so devastating.
But I think the corroborating witnesses will be helpful too, but they're just going to confirm what we've seen with our own eyes.
One of the problems with big high-profile celebrity trials of any nature is that you're always going to get some people trying it on who want to maybe make money, make fame, whatever it may be out of it.
You've been involved in these kind of things.
How do you sort of weed out, if you like, the wheat from the chaff when it comes to these kind of situations?
Well, it's very difficult because you get when you're representing somebody high profile, you get a lot of calls.
And a lot of them are from crazy people or people who want to get their own 15 minutes of fame.
But there are, we've got some very good leads, anonymous leads that panned out.
So you really have to run each one down and you can't be complacent.
You can't assume that something you're being told is not true.
You have to run each lead down.
You've said that Combs needs to own his lifestyle when it comes to his defense.
Explain what you mean by that.
Well, I think for sure he's got to explain that video.
I mean, he absolutely has to explain it.
If it's not, if he chooses not to testify, that will be damning.
He's going to have to really take responsibility, not just mouth the words.
When he said that he was sorry, it didn't ring true.
I think he's, you know, I'd like to see more emotion there.
I think another complicating factor is the fact that he's already done the apology video.
So you can imagine the prosecutor cross-examining him, not only with respect to the original video, but also with respect to the first apology.
So if he does a better job the second time, people are going to say, well, why are you acting differently?
I just think it's a really, really difficult situation he's in.
And I think he's got to go for juror nullification.
I think he's got to hope for one or two jurors there who will be willing to disregard the judge's instructions and willing to disregard the evidence and go for some kind of conspiracy theory or something like that.
But I think that's his best hope.
Let me turn to Rob Shooter.
You were part of Diddy's publicity team.
How long did you work for him?
Early 2000s.
I started in about 2001, left in about 2004, 2005.
And what was your sense of the kind of person you were working for?
He was driven.
He was rude.
He was vulgar.
He was charming.
He was everything that you think a celebrity might be.
I was pretty early on in my PR career, and he was probably my first big star in many ways.
He taught me how to be a publicist.
He was hands-on.
He loved being a celebrity more than any other star I've ever worked with.
And he was also charming.
And I hate to use that word because I'm going to look so naive here.
But thinking back in that period, he was charming.
He had a big smile.
And I think this is why he probably got away with it for so long.
You know, I met him a couple of times.
I met him at a dinner in London.
I met him at an Oscar's party in LA.
I remember the conversation.
We had a conversation about iPhones against BlackBerries.
And in London, I had quite a long conversation with him.
And I saw that charming side to him both times.
I was genuinely shocked when all this stuff broke up because I'd never seen another side to him.
But a lot of people, and I'll bring in DJ Vlad here.
I don't think this is such a shock to a lot of people in the hip-hop world, is it?
I don't think it's a total shock, but you're also seeing the hundreds and hundreds of civil lawsuits.
I think most of them are nonsense.
I think most of them will be either thrown out or settled at pennies on the dollar.
I mean, Vlad, just to explore that, I mean, what seems extraordinary to people now when we see the sheer scale of these indictments and the sheer volume of people who have been caught up in this is why on earth this wasn't blown up years ago.
Why do you think that was?
Well, I think the Cassie lawsuit, I think when that actually became public and you saw the big spotlight on it in the same way that you saw the R. Kelly documentary come out, the same thing that happened with Harvey Weinstein when it got international attention.
I think that law enforcement, their ears perked up and they saw this as a way to actually jump on the bandwagon and to probably make a career with the prosecutor.
Jason, on Sunday, I need back to you.
Piers, I have an idea.
Sorry, Jason.
I have an idea.
I want to just piggyback on what Vlad said and Vlad could agree because Vlad and I, you know, we're tapped into the culture daily.
You know, these freak offs that we're hearing about, I never heard the term freak off ever, and I've been around for a long time, but we have heard of Freak Neek.
And if you think about Freak Neek back in the day, Freak Neek was a cultural destination where every rapper, every woman, everybody wanted to go to, where the purposes of Flying to Atlanta was to go out there, have a good time, have sex, hook up with all these people.
So that culture back in the 90s was something that the culture thrived on.
And that was at a time we didn't have social media, Me Too, cancel culture, all those things.
Now, fast forward, Vlad will tell you there was lots of conversation when the Freak Neek documentary came out because people didn't want to be associated with that era in time that they may have been participating in in a time we're in now.
And so where you see that people are shaming the freak offs, there was a lot of these activities that have been happening over the decades.
And now what the hip-hop community is resonating with is who's next?
How is it going to catch up with me?
I don't want to be affiliated with it.
There's a lot of Diddy friends that I can tell you whose names are being rumored to have been around these situations that are being extremely silent right now because it's almost like a contagious flu and they don't want to catch it.
Right.
I mean, Vlad, on Sunday, new lawsuits dropped against Diddy.
In one of them, he's accused of sexually assaulting a businessman in 2022 before a, quote, well-known athlete put a stop to it.
Another one says he raped a 13-year-old girl at a VMA after party in 2000 alongside an unnamed male celebrity as a female star looked on.
There's got to be a lot of very famous people who were, as Jason says, who were around this scene, around Diddy, around his entourage and everything else, who were reading stuff like this and gulping very loudly that they might get dragged in, aren't they?
Well, I think people are scared to get dragged into the criminal charge.
In terms of civil cases, you can name whoever you want to name.
You know, lawyers really don't have to do that much due diligence.
There's so many fake lawsuits out there.
But for example, I had Taray, the journalist on recently on my show, and he had actually done an interview recently where he talked about he had one of his male cousins.
He actually called Diddy and got him an internship at Bad Boy.
And soon afterwards, he actually ended up quitting.
And then he told Taray afterwards that Diddy demanded that he spend the night with him in order to keep his job.
So he ended up ultimately quitting his job.
You know, Diddy's always kind of hid his real sexuality.
I personally think he's bisexual.
And I think this will come out at some point.
I don't know why he doesn't come out already because there's been so many stories from people like Taray who are actually credible.
And, you know, from people that actually, like his cousin who is not trying to sue, who's not trying to get publicity off of it.
But these stories have been circulating.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with being bisexual.
But he should come forward with it because there are so many allegations at this point.
Yeah.
I mean, Ben Shu, this issue of other unnamed stars at the moment who may or may not get pulled in.
How likely is it that these names are all going to emerge?
I think it is likely.
And I would respectfully disagree with DJ on that one because I think even if there's no criminal liability for these people who are onlookers, they can really lose a lot in the court of public opinion.
And if you're a prominent individual and you witnessed criminal or other just depraved behavior and you look the other way, that can be devastating to your career.
So I think there are a lot of people who were checking their role at Texas and making sure they weren't at particular parties because I think it can ruin careers.
Rob Shoots said, you know, one of these, I'll just name one of these incidences in one of the new batch of lawsuits was from 2000.
That's around the time you began to work for Diddy.
Did you, in the time you worked for him, have to deal with allegations that came directly to you for a response of any kind in that period?
No, none whatsoever, which is why now, 20 years later, this is all so shocking.
Rumors, Palaces, and Sinister Schemes 00:02:39
When I was with Diddy, he was really rising to the peak of his success.
And the opposite happened to me.
I had publicists for A-list stars calling to get their celebrities into his parties.
I was offered $10,000 once to get somebody into his party.
So this was the period when everybody wanted a piece of Diddy.
Massive companies too.
Clive Davis, Anna Winter at Vogue, Estee Lauder, all wanted a piece of Puffy.
So when I was with him, it felt as if he was the king of the world.
And I didn't hear any of these rumors.
I heard a few rumors that he was gay.
I know he had a gay uncle that he would talk about a lot as an inspiration for his fashion collection.
But I did not hear the sinister rumors, a little titillation about him maybe being bisexual, but nothing really sinister.
In fact, I thought Puffy was a phony.
I thought he pretended to be like a gangster, pretended to be tough, where in reality, he was the first to go to bed after these parties he would throw.
He'd be the first call I'd get in the morning, maybe 6 a.m., figuring out what can we leak to page six?
What can we leak to the entertainment shows?
And so all I saw was this working machine 24-7.
And he was obsessed with Prince Harry and William, wasn't he?
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
He used to ask me all the time.
I'm British.
I live here in America, but he would ask me all the time.
I think because I'm British, he thought that I knew them.
And I did not.
However, I read the newspapers like everybody else.
And each day he would text me or call me wanting to know what was going on with the princes.
He asked me on more than maybe 10 occasions if I could get an invite to the palace.
I tried to try to get them to one, two, three of his parties.
They never did turn up.
And then what was really bizarre too is when I'd go to his apartment, he had an entire townhouse basically on Park Avenue.
When you turned up at his house, you'd go upstairs in the elevator.
Although you would go through security, which I thought was a little weird, like at an airport, he had metal detectors.
When you walked into his home, you'd go up to where he lives and he would have photographs of him and lots and lots of celebrities.
He loved celebrities, but he also had a picture, a framed picture of Harry and William, which I thought was quite strange.
Very lucky sounds like a lucky escape that they didn't go to those parties.
Vlad, this issue of 50 Cent and his, you know, as he said, he spoke to People magazine defending his criticism of Diddy, saying, look, it seems like I'm doing some really outrageous things, but I haven't.
It's really me just saying what I've been saying for 10 years, which is kind of true.
For 10 years he's been calling out.
Silence at Diddy Parties 00:05:49
Diddy and others.
Has he been vindicated, 50 Cent, do you think?
I mean, I don't think 50 ever really liked Diddy.
Tony Yale is a regular on my show, and that's Diddy's right-hand man.
And he's always said that whenever they would have meetings with Diddy, he'd be like, listen, I don't like him, but I'll hear what he has to say.
And I remember on Dream Champs, he had this one instance where he talked about where he was, I guess, talking to Diddy and Diddy offered to take him shopping.
And he was like, what, like, like, I'm a girl?
Like, I'm a hot girl that you take shopping?
Like, that's ridiculous.
So, you know, I think that Diddy always, you know, rubbed 50 Cent the wrong way.
And 50 always had a disdain of him.
And now that this is happening, Diddy's just joining into the, I mean, sorry, 50 is actually joining to the circus.
And he's coming out with his own documentary.
It's going to be on Netflix.
I'm sure that's going to be epic.
Jason, you know this world very well.
There's a lot of conflation.
There's a lot of conflation happening, though, because what 50 has been critical about is that what he said is that Diddy was gay.
This whole, all the trolling on Breakfast Club and everywhere around media is social media has been about Diddy's sexuality.
I haven't heard him say Diddy slept with a little kid.
I haven't heard him say Diddy drugged people.
I mean, I haven't, but if somebody else has, let me know.
I think that there's just been so many different misinterpretations or connections of things that are just muddying the water, right?
Diddy parties and Diddy After Dark, two different things.
So a lot of celebrities that are afraid to be tied to Diddy After Dark are not coming forward saying like, hey, yeah, we've been to a Diddy party.
I've been to a Diddy party.
So I think, you know, trying to make sense of all of it, you know, has been mind-boggling because there are so many things being connected to things that are not a thing.
And from what you're hearing, Jason, do you think there's a lot more dominoes to fall here?
Absolutely.
I mean, I'll put a name out there that, you know, was really close to Puffy, which has been ironically very silent.
And I mean silent, is Naomi Campbell.
Naomi Campbell is somebody that is connected to people all over the world, rich, powerful people.
And her name, you know, has been coming up a lot recently.
And she's been very silent on Diddy, the relationship, wishing any well wishes to the kids.
I mean, she's pretty much, she was been around through all of these things.
And, you know, there's, I think, a lot more to come.
And people are very afraid of their name being brought into it because we all don't know what are on those tapes.
We don't know what's on the cell phones.
We don't know what, but we all know that the law knows.
And soon we should probably find out.
Yeah, I mean, look, I know Naomi Naomi Campbell.
She's not here to defend herself.
I don't think you're making any allegation against her, but she certainly hasn't said anything.
And there are a lot of people around Diddy that haven't.
And I can understand that if you're completely innocent, but you did know him and go to lots of parties or whatever, you don't want to be tainted by this.
So the silence may not be complicit.
It might just be fear of getting contaminated.
You don't think so, Jason?
No, no, no, Pierce.
No, no, no, Pierce.
First of all, Piers, there are three deadly people on this panel, me, you, and DJ Vlad.
They do not like the fact that the three of us are here talking right now.
For me, if you showed up to every Diddy party, now, not the Diddy after dark per se, and I don't know who did or didn't, but if you showed up to every Diddy party, every Diddy party, or Diddy showed up to all your parties, and all of a sudden now the world is in a crisis and you're nowhere to be found and you're trying to stop everybody from talking, one would say Smokey the Bear is near the smoke because there may be a fire.
I don't know.
I'm not saying any allegations.
What I will say, what I will say is that I sipped Sirock at a Diddy party and went home.
I didn't sip Sirock at a Diddy party and stay the night.
And those people that did are going to have a hard time explaining things when the chips start falling.
Look, I think it is going to get bigger before it gets to the end of this, involving a lot of people.
Let me bring back Ben Chu.
You put Johnny Depp on the stand.
It's always a high-risk strategy.
It worked for you.
If you were representing Sean Diddy Combs, would you put him up?
Well, we put Johnny up because he was telling the truth.
So that was a very easy decision to make.
And he had the burden of proof.
And frankly, we couldn't have stopped him even if we wanted to, but we didn't want to.
And telling the truth, as he did over several days, if you're not telling the truth, skilled attorneys on the other side are going to puncture that.
So I believe in that system.
I think in this case, I don't think he's got any choice given that video.
He's got to explain it.
He's got to say that he's terribly sorry for it, but that was an aberration.
That's not who he is.
He just, he simply has to say that.
He has to own it and say, I did a horrible thing.
I'll regret it the rest of my life.
But that doesn't mean that I engaged in sex trafficking.
And he's got to look the jury in the eye and say that and say it convincingly.
If he is found guilty of all charges, how long could he be convicted for?
How long could he be sentenced to?
I'm afraid that he may never see the light of day.
I mean, these are extraordinarily serious felonies that he's been charged with.
So if he's found guilty on some or all of them, I think he'd be a very old man by the time he's out if he gets out at all.
Vlad, as there often is with these things, according to the website chart metric, the latest data shows that Diddy's numbers on music streaming services are actually increasing throughout this whole period, as are his numbers on social media apps like TikTok, Facebook, and so on.
Art Meets Alleged Crime 00:01:28
You know, it's a kind of ambulance chasing element to this where people go where the drama is.
But what about the morality of this?
I mean, we discuss this with all of these cases, really, don't we?
About where art meets alleged crime or scandal.
Is it okay to listen to Diddy's music now?
Should streamers be making money out of Diddy, record companies, etc.
I mean, there's the music and then there is the person making the music and the two don't always coincide.
People still play R. Kelly.
R. Kelly has timeless songs.
Not only that he performed, but, you know, You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson, which was written by R. Kelly.
You know, there's so many people that did horrible things in entertainment and people still love their films.
Roman Polanski, he raped an underage girl, I think like a 13-year-old girl, but his movies are still being watched and everything else like that.
You know, you just see this over and over again, and people ultimately, they like what they like.
And if they like a piece of art, they're going to ignore. the actual artist and some of the crazy things that they've done.
Now, some people are going to draw a line, but as you can see, I mean, he's getting more publicity, so people are going back into his catalog.
It's not surprising at all.
No, it's not surprising.
Whether it's right is another matter.
Thank you to my panel.
Excellent debate.
Really appreciate it.
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