Longtime hip-hop impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs was indicted last week on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, in connection with what the government described as “verbal, emotional, physical and sexual” abuse of women, as well as trafficking, in the form of “Freak Offs” to his residences.
The charges are pretty terrible, and if convicted, Combs will likely face decades in prison, and even if he’s somehow acquitted, his career in the worlds of showbiz and fashion are effectively over. Combs has also been accused of prior wrongdoing, including an assault on his then-girlfriend that was caught on video, so there are likely a lot of bad acts that go way beyond the scope of the indictment.
Combs is a bad guy, clearly, and I hope he ends up behind bars for a long time.
However, one thing I’ve noticed in the days since his indictment is a new constellation of conspiracy theories, alleging with little to no evidence that all sorts of celebrities either knew about or were complicit in Combs’ sex crimes.
These conspiracy theories — pushed by the algorithmic disaster that is Elon Musk’s X — seem to have primarily merely subbed in Combs’ name for Jeffrey Epstein’s, including the parts about Combs supposedly acting as an agent for the CIA, Israel, or both. Furthermore, there’s nothing in the indictment tying Diddy to any accusation of child sex abuse.
Because Combs has been a celebrity in the music, film and fashion industries for about 30 years and has occasionally dabbled in political activism and fundraising, he’s worked with a great many prominent people over the years, and had his picture taken with even more.
Kamala Harris Conspiracy
And we’re now hearing (with no evidence) that various Democratic politicians, including Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, were present at his “freak-offs,” or otherwise involved with his alleged crimes.
There is zero evidence, it appears, that Harris and Diddy have ever met, as I’ve seen no photographs of the two of them together. Combs has been photographed extensively with Donald Trump, although there’s no evidence that Trump had anything to do with Combs’ crimes either.
The New York Post made hay this week out of Combs and Harris, once appearing on the same COVID-era town hall in April 2020, and Harris later tweeted thanks at Diddy for participating. The Post erroneously called that town hall a fundraiser for Harris’ presidential campaign in 2020, but she had dropped out of the race five months before.
Also, on that town hall, which was virtual, Diddy called her “Camilla Harris,” indicating that they don’t know each other well. Plus, if the Democratic Party was in cahoots with Diddy, why would a Democratic Justice Department indict him?
It also didn’t help when Donald Trump shared a meme of Diddy with Harris, in which Combs’ head had clearly been Photoshopped on top of that of Montel Williams.
A lot these theories amount to “I don’t like [celebrity or politician], Diddy was once photographed with that person, so therefore that person must be a full coconspirator in Diddy’s sex crimes.” That’s not how these things work. You need better evidence than that.
Does Combs have “tapes” of all sorts of powerful people he can use for blackmail? One former bodyguard has claimed that, but it’s not been proven. And that was said about Epstein as well, and those “tapes” never emerged. Did Combs do something bad to Justin Bieber? That’s been alleged frequently online, but that’s also unproven, while some of the online “evidence,” including a song, is fabricated.
Let’s focus on what’s real. And if credible information comes out that’s substantiated? Deal with that then.