Cassie Ventura, considered the star witness in Diddy’s trial, was 19 when the hip-hop mogul signed her to his record company. Sean “Diddy” Combs was 37, and even though their relationship began as consensual, she claims that within months, her boyfriend and boss would encourage her to participate in “freak offs.”
Diddy started hiring male escorts to sleep with her while he watched. Last week, a male escort testified, in front of Diddy’s children and mother, that Diddy would encourage him to even urinate on Ventura.
In 2023, she created interest in Diddy’s dealings when she sued him for assault and yearslong abuse, including the horrific video of him chasing her down a hotel hallway and dragging her by her hair. Last week’s hearings revealed she was paid $20 million in that settlement, but it allows prosecutors to open up a broader case against his alleged illicit enterprise of abuse and exploitation of women.
The rapper’s defense is claiming the host of women who came forward in 2023 to share the alleged abuse they endured were not victims and were in consensual relationships with him. The prosecution is trying to build a case that in his homes in Los Angeles and Miami, Diddy drugged and coerced women to participate in sex acts without their consent.
The Department of Justice claims, “COMBS relied on his power as the leader of a multi-faceted business empire. Employees of COMBS’ businesses — including high ranking supervisors, security staff, personal assistants, and household staff — acted as COMBS’ intermediaries to, among other things, arrange travel and hotel rooms; stock the hotel rooms for COMBS’ commercial sex activity; contact or locate women and other individuals whom he targeted for abuse; and conceal and cover up the abuse.”
Combs’s allegations don’t just include women; men from 1991 until his arrest in 2024 have come out and addressed alleged assaults and abuse toward them as well.
These horrific allegations leave us all wondering, “How did this happen?” Turns out, we live in a society telling young women that “sex work” is a legitimate job. Corporations such as Pornhub profit off of and cover up child sexual abuse, and searches for “school uniforms” on pornographic sites are common. A generation of Americans has watched television geared toward children with explicit messaging made to desensitize them to disturbing behaviors.
If you’re a millennial in America, you know Diddy’s influence in pop culture. Acknowledging that these alleged abuses occurred in the fanciest clubs, hotels, restaurants, and in an industry looked up to by America’s youth is terrifying.
Similar to the Harvey Weinstein allegations, the Diddy ones prove that men with power and money are willing to use it to dehumanize and degrade others. And too often, those around them say and do nothing to stop it.
How many people attended Diddy’s famous White Parties, covered by TMZ and Perez Hilton and even called “cultural extravaganzas,” and saw red, maybe even yellow flags, and did not say anything because the normalization of orgies, drug use, multiple partners, drinking, and escorts is common in the higher echelons of power in the entertainment industry?
From USA Today, “[Diddy’s White Parties] were the place to be. The champagne — preferably Cristal or Veuve Clicquot — flowed, and the gourmet food was presented with flair and then some. On one occasion, sushi was served on the nude torso of a woman. At some parties, people ended up in the pool, often losing items of clothing. At another, go-go dancers appeared to shoot fire from between their legs.”
When we live in a society where it is the norm for women to be seen as sexualized objects solely for enjoyment, laughter, and pleasure, the things that should cause pause just don’t.
DIDDY’S INDICTMENT IS A WAKE-UP CALL ABOUT SEX TRAFFICKING IN AMERICA
The Diddy downfall is a reminder to be vigilant in our daily lives of the cultural merchants who highlight women’s bodies and sexuality before their brains and skillset, who tell women that abortion access is the greatest threat to them at this moment in history, who pretend that prostitution and OnlyFans are empowering to women instead of degrading, and who ignores the rich and powerful who attend fancy parties without considering the effect their actions are having on the others present and the little girls watching on social media, too.
Furthermore, this trial is a reminder that the worst in our society get away with it far too often because of the shame victims inherently feel, which is often pushed on them by the same men who engage in such lewd acts. In the words of Gisele Pelicot, the French victim of repeated rape from her ex-husband and 50 other men in her community, “It’s not for us to have shame; it’s for them.” And shame on all of us for allowing our culture to continue to do this to women and children, and not doing enough to protect them.
Elisha Krauss is a conservative commentator and speaker who resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their four children. She advocates women’s rights, school choice, and smaller government.