Updated as of 9/17/2024 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Rap mogul Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs entered his plea in response to federal charges he received just 24 hours ago.
The 54-year-old was arrested in New York City on Monday after months of sexual assault allegations, lawsuits and a federal investigation leading up to a grand jury indictment. According to The Associated Press, Combs entered a not guilty plea Tuesday afternoon.
The report says the rapper showed little reaction in court after listening to the lengthy list of scathing allegations. He was not handcuffed during the plea hearing.
His attorneys proposed he be released on $50 million bond to house arrest with electronic monitoring. However, federal prosecutors argued the allegations of physical violence, sex abuse and his alleged possession of military-style rifles made him too dangerous and a potential flight risk, according to a letter addressed to a magistrate judge.
More About P. Diddy’s Charges
The charges that the Bad Boy mogul is facing have not been publicly announced, reported the New York Times. However, NYT reported that Diddy is expected to be charged with racketeering and sex trafficking—which matches accusations made by his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in an explosive lawsuit filed last year. Diddy was also recently sued by his former artist Dawn Richards, alleging that he “belittled, terrorized and sexually abused her.”
And there have been a slew of other lawsuit’s looking to hold Diddy accountable for his alleged history of bad behavior. Yet those lawsuits seem to pale in comparison to the federal investigation that has been building against Diddy for months—which saw armed federal agents in armored vehicles in March raid his $61.5 million home in Los Angeles and another in Miami.
Details from the indictment released Tuesday added greater insight into the type of lifestyle Diddy was allegedly living at these homes and the “Freak Offs” he hosted.
“In or about March 2024, during searches of COMBS’ residences in Miami, Florida and Los Angeles, California, law enforcement seized various Freak Off supplies, including narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant,” according to the indictment.
Page Six reported that Diddy also took these “Freak Offs” to hotel rooms, where his staff was instructed to fill them with such supplies as “controlled substances, baby oil, lubricant, extra linens, and lighting,” and handle the clean up after.
“Literally going to give ‘wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy’ a whole ass new meaning with them moving to unseal the indictment in the morning,” wrote one social media commentator in response to his arrest.
According to his legal team, Diddy had been cooperating with investigating authorities and reportedly moved to New York “in anticipation of these charges.” His legal team called the decision to move forward with his prosecution “unfair.”
“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community,” said his legal team in a statement reported by NYT. “He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal.”
That all soon may change if the allegations of abuse, manipulation and bullying are to be believed. As a ’90s rapper and producer who has managed to remake himself into a business icon, Diddy has been tied through business or as friends to a number of music and entertainment legends, including Lil Kim, Mary J. Blige, Lee Daniels, Jennifer Lopez, Jay-Z, Naomi Campbell, Rick Ross, Justin Bieber, Young Miami Usher, and many more.
He has also been connected to a number of more women that he had been rumored to be dating.
However, as much as Diddy represented the high life in Black culture, he has also been connected to many allegations of low behavior in the alleged case of TuPac and even when it came to his longtime ex-girlfriend Kim Porter.
What does it all mean that now it seems his world is crumbling? The Black internet has some thoughts.
“Diddy going out bad,” wrote one social media commentator on X.
Another social media on X added, “Since I’ve become more aware and sensitive to energies, I can’t even look at a picture of Diddy for too long. Idk if it’s the fact that knowing his crimes makes him harder to look at, or it’s his spirit showing himself. Either way, that man is…whew. Darkness.”
“This Diddy trial gonna be a spectacle like no other,” wrote another commentator, summing up the situation.
Time will tell just how true that will be. So far there have been no photos or videos of Diddy’s arrest released to the public.