Rapper and actor Kid Cudi testified on Thursday that he believes Sean “Diddy” Combs was behind the bombing of his Porsche in 2012 and that the mogul trespassed in his Los Angeles home after the fallen rap and fashion icon learned both men were romantically involved with R&B singer Cassie Ventura.
Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, took the stand on Thursday in Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan, where the mogul’s team of attorneys is defending him against federal prosecutors who allege in a five-count indictment that he created a criminal enterprise to facilitate his abuse and exploitation of women, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct. Combs is accused of acts including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. He pleaded not guilty and has said he is innocent of all crimes of which he is accused.
Prosecutors called Mescudi as they tried to show the jury how Combs used his employees as a means of controlling women and using his financial and business resources to carry out a violent attack. Wearing a black leather jacket and white T-shirt, the rapper told the court that he met Ventura, who was then signed to Combs’ Bad Boy Records, in 2008 and that they became friends until they began dating in 2011; she had led him to believe that her relationship with Combs was over. In December of that year, he received a phone call from Combs’ assistant, Capricorn Clark, who said Combs was inside his Hollywood Hills home with an associate and she’d been forced to go with them.
He testified that he decided to drive home and on the way, he phoned Combs, who calmly told him, “I want to talk to you,” but Combs was nowhere to be found when Mescudi got home; however, wrapped Christmas presents left out had been opened and his dog, who was left to roam the house, was shut into the bathroom. Mescudi testified that he called the police to report the break-in.
Weeks later in January 2012, Mescudi was at a friend’s house when he received a phone call from his dog sitter that his Porsche 911 was on fire in his driveway. Photo evidence of a slit in the fabric roof of the sports car was shown to the jury. The rapper testified that a Molotov cocktail was discovered in the front seat of the Porsche, which was damaged beyond repair in the incident.
In her marathon testimony last week, Ventura told the court that Combs had threatened to blow up Mescudi’s car and physically injure him when he learned that the two were romantically involved. The day after the Porsche was bombed in his driveway, Mescudi went to meet with Combs to smooth over the situation.
“After the fire, I said, ‘This is getting out of hand. I need to talk to him,’” the Grammy-winning rapper told the court. But Combs denied any involvement.
“What are we going to do about my car?” Mescudi told the court he’d asked Combs, who he testified then gave him a “very cold stare” and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mescudi then said, “I knew he had something to do with it,” which jurors were told to disregard after Combs’ lawyers objected to the comment.
Years after the incident, he told the court, Mescudi ran into Combs at a hotel. While they spoke, Combs apologized “for everything,” but did not specifically mention the attack on his car.
While cross-examining Mescudi, defense attorney Brian Steel painted Ventura as a romantic two-timer who played both Mescudi and Combs as she had been living a “double life.” Ventura had testified last week that she was still seeing Combs for “freak-offs” and using a burner phone for her relationship with Mescudi.
“Ms. Ventura was living two different lives, is that true?” Steel asked, to which he replied, “Yes,” and said that he was disappointed to learn that she had chosen to go back with Combs.
Steel also asked Mescudi if he was aware that female DNA was found on his wrecked Porsche by police who investigated the incident. He told the court that he never heard anything regarding the findings of the police investigation into the incident.
