Rapper Kid Cudi is set to testify Thursday at the New York sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs. He follows a former aide to the music mogul who told the jury about the threatening world he said Combs created for his inner circle.
Prosecutors allege that Combs, a three-time Grammy winner, used his fame and fortune to create a deviant empire of exploitation, coercing women into abusive sex parties while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and beatings. Combs' lawyers argue that all the sexual acts were consensual, and although he could be violent, he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering.
Kid Cudi is expected to testify about his brief relationship 14 years ago with Combs’ ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie. She spent four emotional days on the witness stand responding to questions about the most disturbing secrets of her sex life, and describing being beaten and raped by a man she once loved.
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What is Kid Cudi’s involvement with Combs and Cassie?
Last week, Cassie testified that Combs arranged for her to meet Cudi in 2011 to work on music. The two began dating soon after, and she said she got a burner phone to communicate with Cudi in secret.
Cassie said she and Combs had broken up at the time, although they still engaged in sex parties that Combs orchestrated. It was during one of these that Combs looked at her phone and learned of the Cudi relationship, Cassie testified.
In response, she said he lunged at her with a corkscrew and kicked her in the back.
When Cassie and Combs were out of the country in 2012, Combs told her that Cudi’s car would be blown up and Combs wanted Cudi’s friends there to see it, Cassie testified.
On Tuesday, Cassie’s mother, Regina Ventura, testified that Cassie told her Combs was so angry about her relationship with Cudi that he planned to release sexually explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt Cassie and Cudi.
Who is Kid Cudi?
The Cleveland born-and-raised, skinny-jean wearing, Grammy Award-winning rapper has long been celebrated for his alternative hip-hop, emotional music that effortlessly weaves genres together in surprising ways.
Cudi began as something of a protégé of Kanye West, when the then-uncontroversial rapper signed Cudi to his G.O.O.D. Music label in 2008. Cudi left in 2013.
He is featured on Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint 3” and West’s landmark “808s & Heartbreak.” Cudi has always had an eye and ear toward innovation. In 2022, his album “Entergalactic” was released alongside a Netflix adult-animated romantic comedy of the same name, which he told The Associated Press allowed him to “explore the abstract.”
Kid Cudi expected to take the stand
Cudi’s turn on the witness stand will come immediately after George Kaplan, a former personal assistant to Combs, finishes his testimony. A prosecutor said testimony by Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, was not expected to be lengthy.
Cassie testified last week that Combs threatened to blow up Cudi’s car and hurt him after he learned she was dating the rapper and actor.
Cudi is to follow Kaplan to the witness stand after the personal assistant to Combs from 2013 to 2015 finishes telling about what he experienced during 80- to 100-hour work weeks.
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