Inside the Diddy trial: why it felt like a watch party at the courthouse

Summary

Consider This from NPR: Inside the Diddy Trial – Why It Felt Like a Watch Party at the Courthouse

Episode Overview

In the July 12, 2025 episode of NPR's Consider This, host Scott Detrow delves into the high-profile trial of Sean Combs, widely known as Diddy. The episode, titled "Inside the Diddy Trial: Why It Felt Like a Watch Party at the Courthouse," offers an in-depth exploration of the unique dynamics within the courthouse during the trial. Reporters Isabella Gomez Sarmiento and Anastasia Siolkis provide firsthand accounts of covering the case, highlighting the convergence of traditional media, independent journalists, and social media influencers in the high-stakes environment.

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1. The Early Days: Getting Inside the Courthouse

The episode opens with Isabella Gomez Sarmiento and Anastasia Siolkis describing the initial challenges of covering the Sean Combs trial. Isabella notes the logistical hurdles, such as gaining access to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, which is notoriously busy even without the spectacle of a celebrity trial.

• Isabella Gomez Sarmiento [00:00]: "Every reporting beat has its own unique challenges, and sometimes it's just getting inside the building."

Anastasia recounts the intense preparation required, including long hours spent outside the courthouse during jury selection. She describes the dedication of line sitters, individuals who guarded spots in line for reporters amidst early mornings and inclement weather.

• Anastasia Siolkis [00:05]: "People started paying line sitters pretty early on, so someone to hold their spot in line for them overnight."

2. Navigating the Courthouse: Security and Access

Scott Detrow provides a detailed account of the security procedures within the courthouse, comparing them to airport protocols. Reporters had to navigate multiple checkpoints, including metal detectors and electronic device inspections, before gaining access to the courtrooms or overflow areas.

• Scott Detrow [00:56]: "When you first enter in, there's a metal detector, like at an airport, and one of the marshals there inspects how many electronics you're bringing in."

Once inside, reporters like Isabella and Anastasia often found themselves in either the main courtroom or an overflow room equipped with TV monitors. Due to limited electronic access, journalists relied on pen and paper for note-taking, a stark contrast to modern digital reporting.

• Isabella Gomez Sarmiento [01:20]: "Some days they'd be in the courtroom, and other days they'd be in an overflow room with TV monitors beaming in the action and with all their stuff in a cubby."

3. The Convergence of Media and Influencers

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the blending lines between traditional media outlets like NPR and burgeoning social media influencers. Anastasia observes the increasing presence of influencers—YouTubers, TikTok creators, and independent journalists—occupying press seats reserved for accredited reporters.

• Anastasia Siolkis [06:08]: "I would say there were dozens of influencers there. Whether that was people with YouTube channels, true crime podcasters, people who are big on TikTok."

Scott highlights the behavioral differences, noting that many new media participants exhibited partisan behavior, turning the courtroom environment into something reminiscent of a sports bar rather than a solemn legal proceeding.

• Scott Detrow [06:20]: "I saw a lot of those, quote, unquote, new media people being much more partisan participants in this trial."

4. Challenges in Reporting: Distractions and Ethical Dilemmas

The presence of outspoken influencers often led to distractions, making it challenging for traditional journalists to focus on their reporting. Anastasia describes the chaotic atmosphere, where conversations and live recordings interfered with the seriousness of the trial proceedings.

• Anastasia Siolkis [07:51]: "The watch party vibe was really real. There was a lot of times where people in the overflow room were, like, cheering or laughing, especially when the defense was cross-examining some of the witnesses."

This environment forced NPR reporters to adapt their methods, focusing on conversational storytelling and ethical reporting, especially when dealing with sensitive topics like sexual assault allegations.

• Anastasia Siolkis [08:50]: "It was really important to be sort of conversational in the way that we were explaining this to people and not get caught up in the legal terms of it all."

5. The Cultural Significance of the Trial

Isabella and Anastasia discuss the broader cultural implications of Sean Combs' trial, emphasizing his role as a significant figure in multiple industries and his impact on the American Dream, particularly within Black communities. The trial serves as a lens to examine issues of race, gender, power, and celebrity culture.

• Anastasia Siolkis [09:43]: "Sean Combs is such a massively important cultural figure, not just in music, but in fashion, in TV, for being an entrepreneur across a number of industries."

Scott adds that the trial reflects ongoing societal debates sparked by movements like #MeToo, highlighting the clash between traditional journalistic integrity and the performative aspects of social media.

• Scott Detrow [10:28]: "Watching this trial as sort of a marker of how cultural attitudes may or may not be shifting is a really important thing."

6. The Verdict and Its Aftermath

The episode concludes with a dramatic recounting of the trial's verdict. Scott describes the intense moments leading up to the jury's decision, highlighting the reporters' preparedness for a quick turnaround in reporting the outcome.

• Scott Detrow [13:06]: "Less than an hour after the jury sat for deliberations that day, they had set a note to the judge saying that they had unanimous verdict on all three of the charges."

Scott narrates the adrenaline-fueled rush to get the news out, capturing the immediacy and pressure of live reporting.

• Scott Detrow [13:37]: "Arrived at the bureau just in time to get myself in a chair in front of a microphone with something like three minutes to spare to a live interview on MORNING edition."

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Conclusion

This episode of Consider This offers a compelling inside look at the intricate dynamics of covering a high-profile trial in the modern media landscape. Through the experiences of seasoned NPR reporters, listeners gain insight into the challenges of maintaining journalistic integrity amidst the rising influence of social media personalities. The trial of Sean Combs not only serves as a legal battle but also as a cultural touchstone, reflecting broader societal issues surrounding race, gender, power, and the evolving nature of news dissemination.

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Notable Quotes

• Isabella Gomez Sarmiento [00:00]: "Every reporting beat has its own unique challenges, and sometimes it's just getting inside the building."
• Anastasia Siolkis [06:08]: "There were dozens of influencers there. Whether that was people with YouTube channels, true crime podcasters, people who are big on TikTok."
• Scott Detrow [06:20]: "I saw a lot of those, quote, unquote, new media people being much more partisan participants in this trial."
• Anastasia Siolkis [09:43]: "Sean Combs is such a massively important cultural figure... it was really important for us to be there and help parse out some of those questions through our coverage."
• Scott Detrow [13:37]: "Arrived at the bureau just in time to get myself in a chair in front of a microphone with something like three minutes to spare to a live interview on MORNING edition."

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Consider This continues to provide listeners with nuanced explorations of significant news events, offering both depth and accessibility in its reporting.

Transcript

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Every reporting beat has its own unique challenges, and sometimes it's just getting inside the building.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

The first few days, starting off with jury selection, I was outside the courthouse at around 5am so it was still dark and cold and kind of rainy.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, one of the reporters who covered the Sean Combs trial for npr.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

People started paying line sitters pretty early on, so someone to hold their spot in line for them overnight. Which quickly turned into 10pm the day before, 2pm the day before.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

The federal courthouse in lower Manhattan is a busy place even without the circus of a hip hop tycoon's criminal trial. So on some days, the lines would be even more chaotic.

[Scott Detrow]

Every Friday morning, that's when they would be swearing in new American citizens in other courtrooms.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Anastasia Siolkis also covered the trial for npr.

[Scott Detrow]

Isabel was really great when I was filling in for her on Fridays to be like, don't forget it's new Citizens Day. And I was like, oh, that's right.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And once they did get inside the building.

[Scott Detrow]

So when you first enter in, there's a metal detector, like at an airport, and one of the marshals there inspects how many electronics you're bringing in. Then a second marshal confirms that number, hands you a disc. You go marching down the hallway with your stuff and this little disc to yet another marshal who checks you in, stashes your stuff in a cubby, and gives you yet another token to carry up to the courtroom.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Some days they'd be in the courtroom, and other days they'd be in an overflow room with TV monitors beaming in the action and with all their stuff in a cubby. At this point, all they had was pen and paper. No phone, no laptop. Old school.

[Scott Detrow]

I think for this trial. The days that I was sitting through whole days of testimony, I was averaging about 35, 36 handwritten pages of notes.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

I went through four notebooks throughout the eight weeks of the trial. Like, I wrote my way through four entire notebooks. It came down to being like, what are the initials I'm going to use for each person? I had one color pen for the prosecution, one color pen for the defense. I very quickly learned how important it was to write down timestamps so then I could go back and say, like, you know, this witness spent X number of hours on the witness stands.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

On July 2, Sean Combs was acquitted of the most serious charges he faced racketeering and sex trafficking. He was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. And he remains in prison awaiting sentencing. In early October, over the course of eight weeks, the trial became a spectacle, even by the high standards of celebrity courtroom dramas. One reason for that, all of the influencers. Guys, so it's 5:45 people have been.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

Lined up out here since midnight, y'. All.

[Scott Detrow]

What's poppin?

[Anastasia Siolkis]

It's your girl, Miss Pleasant. I'm out here at the Diddy trial.

[Scott Detrow]

Y' all already know I'm going back upstairs.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

So we've got media row over here, all the mainstream reporters doing their morning segments. Then over here is where I would expect protesters, but I'm not seeing.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That was Armand Wiggins, Ms. Plus Pleasant and Emily Hagan, just a few of the influencers who covered the Combs trial.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

There are a limited number of press seats in the actual courtroom, and there were days where most of those seats were taken up by influencers.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Consider this. Old and new media converged at the trial of Sean Combs. So today we've got our weekly Reporter's Notebook series where we bring you inside our reporting process to hear how NPR correspondents are covering the week's biggest stories. This episode, the view from inside the courthouse as the Diddy spectacle unfolded. From npr, I'm Scott Detrow.

[Scott Detrow]

The House of Representatives has approved a White House request to claw back two.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

Years of previously approved funding for public media. The rescissions package now moves on to the Senate. This move poses a serious threat to local stations and public media as we know it.

[Scott Detrow]

Please take a stand for public media [e-mail] thank you.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

This is Eric Glass on this American Life. Sometimes we just show up somewhere, turn on our tape recorders and see what happens. If you can't get seven cars in 12 days, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and say, holy. What, are you kidding me? This car dealership trying to sell its monthly quota of cars and it is not going well. I just don't want one balloon to a car balloon the whole freaking place so it looks like a circus. Real life stories every week. You know, those things you shout at the radio or maybe even at this very NPR podcast on NPR's. Wait, wait, don't tell me we actually say those things on the radio and on the podcast. We're rude across all media. We think the news can take it. Listen to NPR's Wait, Wait, don't tell me. Wherever you get your podcasts, it's consider this from npr. We're gonna jump straight into my conversation with Isabela Gomez Sarmiento and Anastasia Siolkis, who covered the Sean combs trial for NPR's Culture Desk. I started by asking them about the courthouse dynamics between influencers and legacy media outlets like npr. Here's Isabella.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

I would say there were dozens of influencers there. Whether that was people with YouTube channels, true crime podcasters, people who are big on TikTok. There was a number of people who referred to themselves as independent journalists. So at first we thought there was gonna be a little bit of a divide because, you know, people from accredited outlets have these New York City issued press passes. Very quickly, the influencers had those as well as independent journalists again. But it did create some friction and it did add some chaos to what was already a high profile trial. You know, whether you were leaving for lunch break or leaving for the day, there would be sort of waves of people running to the elevators, going downstairs, getting their devices, running outside, and everyone is turning on their phone, turning on their selfie sticks, turning on all of their equipment and recording themselves, sort of recounting the day's events, People bleeding into each other's videos. You know, that was sort of a thing walking around outside, like, you don't want to be in the background of an influencer's video, or you don't want to be caught, like, speaking to your editor in someone's live TikTok.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Were there moments where you saw big differences in how the traditional media versus the independent journalists, as they've called themselves, approach covering this trial, what they thought their roles were, how they did their roles?

[Scott Detrow]

I mean, I would say I saw and observed a lot of those, quote, unquote, new media people being much more partisan participants in this trial. You know, a lot of folks, especially in the overflow rooms, who were there for their own channels and their own platforms, were quite outspoken about their perspectives on the trial and whom they believed and what they thought was compelling. And one day Isabella said to me that it felt like she was at a watch party in the overflow room because people were, like, talking back. You know, it's like everyone's sitting in a bar, watching a sports game and yelling back at the screen. That's what it felt like a lot of the days just to cut in.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

By and large, the consensus was pro Diddy here. Right? Is that fair to say?

[Scott Detrow]

That was my interpretation, yeah.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

In the overflow room, yes.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah.

[Scott Detrow]

A lot of them were very vocal about how they felt about, for example, the MeToo movement and power dynamics in 2018. People were talking about, here was a famous black man being put on trial for his sexual proclivities, and would that ever happen with a white man, whether he was a celebrity or not. And the talking back presented its own logistical difficulties, aside from even the issue of seating, because the journalists who were there trying to do all these handwritten notes, it was very hard to hear sometimes what was being said in the actual courtroom because people were busy talking back at the screen.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

Yeah, yeah, there was. The watch party vibe was really real. There was a lot of times where people in the overflow room were, like, cheering or laughing, especially when the defense was cross examining some of the witnesses and cross examining some of the alleged victims. And, you know, it was really jarring because it felt really at odds with the seriousness of the allegations at hand in the trial. This was a sex trafficking trial. There was a lot of very sexual, graphic testimony. And that was another big difference I would notice outside when people were live, a lot of the influencers were very quick to give some of the most graphic details that came up. Whereas I felt like, you know, as a reporter, sometimes you're trying to filter. How do we explain this to our audience? What is the sensitive way to sort of talk about some of these very serious allegations? And, you know, there is more of an entertainment value on social media, where people did sometimes repeat some of the most salacious things that were said in the courtroom.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

I'm curious, did either of you observe any of this and kind of rethink or tweak the way you were approaching this trial?

[Anastasia Siolkis]

You know, I think it did make me realize that it was really important to be sort of conversational in the way that we were explaining this to people and not get caught up in the legal terms of it all. But I think there were a lot of questions that it raised on, like, the ethics of how do you report on trauma, you know, and the trauma of some of these people?

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Well, let me ask you something along those lines. I mean, like, you saw, obviously, there was this massive social media demand for the content of this trial, but at the same time, I know there were probably a lot of listeners at NPR saying, like, why are we covering this? There's so much happening in the world. Why are we devoting this many resources to covering this. This celebrity trial? I'm curious what both of you thought about that. Like, what to you was the journalistic value of going through this enormously tricky process of parking yourself in an overflow room, to cramping your hand writing these notes? Like, what to you was the bigger questions that this story got to that was that was worth the time and effort you put into it?

[Anastasia Siolkis]

I mean, Sean Combs is Such a massively important cultural figure, not just in music, but in fashion, in tv, for being an entrepreneur across a number of industries. And I've spoken to a lot of people who say he sort of embodies the American dream, especially for black communities. At the same time, I think we're at a moment where we're grappling with how people with that much power may or may not use it and abuse that power to subject other people to harm. So there were a lot of big cultural implications for this trial, beyond the fact that he's a celebrity. It speaks to a lot of questions and issues we have about how race and gender and wealth and all of these things work together in our culture. And it was really important for us to be there and to sort of help parse out some of those questions through our coverage.

[Scott Detrow]

I could not agree more. And also, you're now several years after sort of the first wave of MeToo cases and to see not just a jury of 12 people, but larger culture grapple with these issues. One of the things we haven't talked about so much is the number of influencers who belong to the so called manosphere and have very, very, very strong opinions about gender roles, gender commitments, I guess I would say, for lack of a better word, like how relationships could and should occur. And just watching this trial as sort of a marker of how cultural attitudes may or may not be shifting is a really important thing.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Like this ongoing Internet backlash against women who bring accusations. You saw it with the Johnny Depp trial as well.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

Yeah. And even in the courtroom, I do think in the overflow room in particular, there was a moment when one of the defense attorneys asked, asked an alleged victim if this was part of a, quote, MeToo money grab. And people were cheering and laughing, and it just felt very indicative of how people feel about sexual assault allegations right now. All this time out from the onset of the MeToo movement.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah, I want to end with the verdict and what it was like to cover and experience that. Anastasia, you were in court for this. Walk us through what happened and what you saw.

[Scott Detrow]

Yeah, I got there pretty early, Scott, because I thought that there was a. A very good chance that the deliberations were going to end that day, because this was just before the 4th of July. And I think everyone was very aware that everyone, I'm sure the jury included, wanted to go home. So I tried to position myself really strategically towards the back of the overflow room at the end of a row, very near the door, so that if it happened, I'd be well positioned to run out the door. And I'm a longtime New Yorker, so I think it's safe to say I'm pretty good at negotiating crowds. But it was mostly a matter of proactively planning how it's going to get out. And less than an hour after the jury sat for deliberations that day, they had set a note to the judge saying that they had unanimous verdict on all three of the charges. So I stayed to hear the verdict and sort of see the initial reactions from Sean Combs and his family. And then I just and I wore sneakers that day on purpose, and I just sprinted out the door downstairs. You know, I think I was on the 24th floor. So took the elevator down, sprinted towards the electronics line and got out in just a few minutes to ping my editors.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

How quickly were you on the radio after that?

[Scott Detrow]

I'm so glad you asked the question. I filed two spots for newscast from right outside, and then it was like a movie. I got uptown through like four miles of traffic, and it was serious, serious traffic. Arrived at the bureau just in time to get myself in a chair in front of a microphone with something like three minutes to spare to a live interview on MORNING edition.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

What an adrenaline rush.

[Scott Detrow]

What an adrenaline rush.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That was. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento and Anastasia Siolkis, who covered the Sean combs trial for MTR's culture desk. This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and Kyra Wakim. It was edited by Adam Raney and Jacob Gantz. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigun. It's Consider this from npr. I'm Scott Detrow. This summer on Planet Money Summer School, we're learning about political economy. We're getting into the nitty gritty of what government does with things like trade, taxes, immigration and health care. So politics and economics, which are taught separately, they shouldn't be separated at all. I think you have to understand one to really appreciate the other. So what is the right amount of government in our lives? Tune into Planet Money Summer School from npr. Wherever you get your podcasts, you're listening to NPR because you're curious. You want to know what the world is like beyond the surface. NPR feeds that curiosity with stories from real people with real experiences and all the perspectives that come with them. It's our right to be curious and our prerogative to listen. So keep your curiosity alive. Hear the bigger picture every day on npr.

[Anastasia Siolkis]

Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon prime members can listen to Consider.

[Scott Detrow]

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[Anastasia Siolkis]

You can also support NPR's vital journalism. And get consider this [e-mail] that's plus.NPR.org.