A (8:58)
Now they call this ironic because they're like, you said you were a better man, that you had talked to God and you'd been doing the work, only to find out some months later, you get into it with Jane. And I will say in court, Jane said on the stand herself that she did physically put her hands on Diddy first. But the prosecutors point back to you know, him getting into it physically with Jane, which led to him putting his hands on her. Not the same way as Cassie, but, you know, it's the same instances, domestic violence either way. But this was different. And Diddy's team points out this was different because he was hit first in this circumstance. But prosecutors point out he busted down five doors trying to get to her throughout this, you know, what they call an attack, Right? How is he upstanding citizen? How can we trust that he will come home and do all the things he needs to do and really understand that you're not bigger than the program because he was waiting to come and see you, judge, and he couldn't even understand that Diddy has really gotten himself into some trouble. And I think a lot of people keep having conversations about what does and does not pertain to these charges. In the cases that the prosecutors are submitting in the same sentencing conversation to show that there are people who have been placed behind bars for 10 plus years for these same charges. What they're leaning on is that it's not just simply prostitution on his face. It's the use of power, the use of previously applied force that scares these victims, as the prosecution alleges they are, scares them into having to do whatever is placed before them. And because of this, we cannot trust that this man talking about Diddy will not come home and feel himself again and feel his power. How do we know that? It's been only but so much time now. In addition to all of this, there are a ton of letters that have been submitted with these filings from people involved in the case, people who've testified in the case. It's like the opposite of a character statement. So these statements are speaking to why people would be scared as hell if Diddy is able to come home in any short amount of time. So you have Deontay Nash, who is a stylist, best friend of Diddy's, who was styling Cassie, who submitted a letter. He also recently filed a lawsuit against Diddy and alleged sexual claims and, you know, various things. You also have Cassie, who submitted a letter, which, again, she was their star witness while on the stand. And majority of the decision making from the judge has been based around Cassie and the incident that occurred there and what Diddy applying fear looks like in this situation and Cassie's example of that. But she says she's still having nightmares about Diddy and urges that they lock him up and throw away the key. So she says, dear Judge Sobranian, I have been in a cycle of thought and then over thought writing this letter to you. If there's one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe. Although I can hope for justice and accountability, I've come to not trusting anything. I hope that your decision considers the truth at hand that the jury failed to see. For four days in May, while nine months pregnant with my son, I testified in front of a packed courtroom in the most traumatic, horrifying chapter of my life. I testified that from age 19, Sean Combs used violence, threats, substances and control over my career to trap me in over a decade of abuse. He groomed me into performing repeated sex acts with hired male sex workers during multi day freak offs which occurred nearly every week. I was forced into lingerie and heels, told exactly how to look, implied with drugs and alcohol so he could control me like a puppet. These events were degrading and disgusting, leaving me with infections, illnesses and days of physical and emotional exhaustion before he demanded it all again. Sex acts became my full time job, used as the only way to stay in his good graces. I testified that I learned to read Sean Comb signals knowing that when he spoke of freak offs, he was demanding them and that refusing meant punishment. Losing my car, my phone, or worse. He controlled every part of my livelihood and threatened to destroy my reputation by leaking sex tapes, a threat he repeated often. His power over me eroded my independence. His power, she says, over me eroded my independence. And that is what the prosecution is hoping that a judge takes from all of these letters, but specifically this letter. His power over me eroded my independence and sense of self until I felt I had no choice but to submit. When he was believed I had wronged him or was not sufficiently responsive. He also threatened people around me and those close to me, including my family. Now Deontay Nash, stylist who was also styling Cassie, friend of Cassie's, also formerly a friend, stylist of Diddy also claimed this too. Like a lot of times he would get threats and things of that nature because of what was or wasn't happening in Cassie and Diddy's relationship and, you know, just trying to look out for her as a friend. I regularly worried that displeasing him meant putting my family and friends safety at risk. I testified how beyond the threat, Sean Combs frequently used violence to get his way over the nearly 11 years we were together. Sean Combs would hit me, punch me, stomp on my face, pull my hair and throw my body to the ground and against the wall. The jury saw pictures of Bruises on my back. They include the pictures in the sentencing package from Sean Combs kicking me and saw the deep gash over my eye he caused when he slammed me into a bed frame. The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away. And it was so hard watching that footage in the courtroom. Like, think of the imagery. We're watching that CNN video. And in that video, he's literally repeatedly kicking her. Like she's just like. They're, like, helpless. You're watching her. Cassie. You're watching Cassie watch the video. And when I say she is so pregnant, I mean, she is, like, irritably pregnant. Like, she looks like she could pop any day. She's trying to get through it, holding back emotion. I'm like, there's no way. A jury doesn't. I don't care what he gets off on, because I always felt like that Rico wasn't going to stick, even though I felt like they had some parts of it. But it was in theory. I don't feel like they had enough evidence. There was no way in my mind after seeing that image. And I'm just a person sitting in the courtroom. Y' all know I wasn't a jury juror, but after seeing that image of her, I'm like, there's no way that Diddy's team, who was great, they've been doing great at what they're doing, right? Defending him, can get that image out of a person's head. This woman is pregnant. She is here. Is obvious she does not want to be here. She's having to do this in front of her fans, family, in front of the media, in front of all of these people. And then we're seeing bruised face and gash across the head and, you know, just swollen lips. Like, it was so much. I think for about three weeks, maybe two weeks, all we did was look at photos of her bruises from her domestic violence and hear her recount every instance of, like, almost. She talked about ODing at one point and just being thrown in the shower, and, you know, it was a lot. She says the entire courtroom watched actual footage of Sean Combs kicking me, beating me as I tried to run away from the freak off. In 2016, people watched this footage dozens of times, seeing my body thrown to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into a fetal position to shield me from my worst blows. The physical violence caused bruises that makeup artists paid for by Sean Combs will cover up, as well as permanent scars all over my body, she says. During My time with Combs, I was in a constant state of hyper vigilance as I was always anticipating demands for sex acts or otherwise fearing retribution for any perceived slight. My descent into substance abuse was directly correlated with his increased control over my body, my money, my freedom and my free will. I used those drugs to push me through the horrifying sex acts. I spent the last seven years of my life slowly rebuilding myself, physically getting clean from the drug abuse Sean Combs forced and encouraged and mentally understanding how to live with a seemingly huge amount of trauma. The horrors I endured drove me to have thoughts of suicide, ones that I almost followed through on, if not for my family's intervention and urging that I seek professional care. I've been in rehab and I've taken dozens of types of therapy to comfort myself, compartmentalize and cope with the horrific memories of sexual and emotional abuse I endured for nearly 10 years. While what he did to me is always present, I am slowly learning how to live my life free from fear and horrors I endured. And I'm doing so fully devoted to my husband and children. I still have nightmares and flashbacks on a regular, everyday basis and continue to require psychological care to cope with my past. My worries are that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family, and that is my reality. I have in fact, moved my family out of New York, out of the New York area, and am keeping as much of a private or quiet life as I possibly can because I am so scared that if he walks free, his first action will be swift retribution towards me and any others who spoke up about his abuse at trial. As much progress as I've made in recovering from his abuse abuse, I remain very much afraid of what he is capable of doing in the malice he undoubtedly harbors towards me for having the bravery to tell the truth. His defense attorneys claim he is a changed man and he wants to mentor abusers. I know firsthand what real mentorship means, and this disgusts me. He is not being truthful. I know who he is or who he was to me, the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser and the trafficker. And that is who he will be as a human. He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power hungry, manipulative man that he is. When I came out with my allegations in my civil case, he flatly denied them again and again. And he did. The statement at some point said that, you know, this was like an attack by the government. They were trying to railroad a Black man with money did he really messed himself up with. I mean, you drag a woman and beat her on camera in a hallway of a very popular, ritzy, ritzy hotel, you're out of here mentally. Like, there's no thinking, no logic. No. Like, this is stupid. I mean, it's stupid to put your hands on a woman like that anyway. But to do it in the way that he did, the lack of I'm not bigger than the program. It screams it, right? But then when she came out with the civil lawsuit, the way that they responded, horrible once he came out, responded that way with the civil lawsuit, and then the video dropped. And then, you know, now he has to say, oh, I've changed, I've changed, or whatever. And then we found out about Jane. Even if his team argues this is not a domestic violence case, the way that the narrative has been painted around Diddy, to me, is the biggest piece of evidence that the prosecutors could have ever been handed, and they didn't have to do anything but talk about some things and show a video. To be honest with you, Cassie getting on the stand, I think that, you know, it helped for sure. That's why she was a star witness. But seeing the video and seeing everything he did after, I think even before Cassie got on the stand, there was a very clear line of like, oh, you do what you want, huh? That is never going to farewell in court, not with everyday people and jurors. I don't care, you know, what type of person you are, what type of celebrity you are, but especially not with a judge. Especially not with a judge. And that's what makes me, you know, think. We've been having conversations about what we think the sentencing will be for Diddy in these upcoming days. And, you know, I've heard people say 10 years, more than 10 years. And I thought for a while, I'm like, you know, maybe anywhere from like 2 to 4, and then he'll get the year, so he'll do about three. But with the prosecution asking for 11, and, you know, the judge repeatedly, when it came to the bail conversation, saying, I don't think that you're ready to be back in society. I think everything is just too soon right now. I think a judge is really going to feel like he needs to sit Diddy down to teach him. You're not bigger than any program here, so we'll have to see what happens at the end of the day. There's always a lot to talk about, you guys. We are, again, less than five days away from the sentence dispensing of Sean Diddy Combs, one of the biggest names in entertainment, hip hop, you know, marketing, lifestyle. You could have never have told me five to 10 years ago, you know, you could have never told me that this is where we would be in conversation around Diddy and his legacy. But we're here. I want to know, what do you guys think? How many years is Diddy going to be handed on Friday, October 3rd? Let's talk about it. Get in the comments, take it to the streets and tweets before the tweets.
