Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Ex-Employees Testify About His Odd Food Demands, Including 'Applesauce on Cheeseburgers'
Sean "Diddy" Combs requested that his assistants bring a very specific — and unusual — list of food items he required for traveling, former employees said during the rapper's trial
The mogul and his team used a Black Amex card to buy luxury items, as well as food items such as applesauce for his hamburgers and ketchup for traveling abroad
Combs currently faces charges including sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitutionSean "Diddy" Combs had a very specific — and unusual — list of food items he required for his travels around the world, according to his former employees.
While testifying at Combs' sex trafficking trial on Thursday, May 22, ex-employee George Kaplan described how the rapper and his team used a Black Amex card to cover everything Combs requested, from baby oil to yacht rentals and luxury villas.
When defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo questioned if those items included applesauce, Kaplan explained, "Mr. Combs loves applesauce, and eats it on the side or top of a lot of things.'
"Cheeseburgers?" Agnifilo asked, to which Kaplan responded, "Cheeseburgers being one of them."
Combs is also obsessed with ketchup, David James, who was an assistant to the music mogul from 2007 to 2009, previously testified on Tuesday, May 20.
"Ketchup was a big item that he always needed for his food, so it was just the consistency, to create a consistent environment for wherever he was," James testified.
He claimed that when they flew to the U.K., he always brought Heinz ketchup because "the tomato sauce didn't meet Combs' standards."
James also said he regularly packed applesauce, detailing that it was a favorite food item for Combs.
During the trial, Agnifilo asked James, "Were you aware he put applesauce on his cheeseburgers?" He replied, "I was not aware, but I knew he liked applesauce."
Combs' former employees have testified about these unusual details as prosecutors attempt to learn more about the rapper's alleged sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges — including transportation to engage in prostitution.
Federal agents found a number of noteworthy items during a 2024 raid of Combs' $48 million Miami mansion that the musician allegedly owned — including AR-15-style rifles, some with their serial numbers scratched off, as well as loaded magazines, drugs such as MDMA and Xanax, sex toys and lingerie and 25 bottles of Johnson's Baby Oil, as well as one rubber duck.Combs' trial began on May 12 after he was initially arrested in September 2024. He has denied all of the allegations against him and pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges.
So far, jurors have heard from his former employees Kaplan and James, his former girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura and her mother, a makeup artist and Kid Cudi.
The trial is expected to last several weeks, and Judge Arun Subramanian recently confirmed that the trial will most likely conclude before July 4. Combs is currently being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. If convicted on all counts, he faces a potential life sentence.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
Read the original article on People
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office warns of deadly ‘pink cocaine'
TANGIPAHOA PARISH, La. (WGNO) — Officials with the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office are warning of a drug known as 'pink cocaine,' which has been associated with several recent suspected overdose deaths in the south end of the parish. According to the TPSO, in the seven days leading up to Friday, May 30, four people, ranging from 25 to 60-years-old died of suspected overdose, with 'pink cocaine,' also known as 'tusi,' being a common element in all four. Former Grand Isle councilman convicted of child sex abuse Officials say the drug is a pink powdery substance which, despite its colloquial name, doesn't actually contain cocaine and is dyed to be pink. Instead, the Drug Enforcement Agency clarifies that it is found to be made with Ketamine, MDMA (Ecstasy,) methamphetamine and fentanyl. The drug is known to result in a 'mind-altering' experience, with the TPSO warning that the version circulating in the area is proving to be highly fatal. While people should avoid all illegal drugs, the TPSO is hoping to raise awareness of this drug in particular, asking that anyone who encounters it refrain from using it and issue a report to the sheriff's Parish Sheriff's Office warns of deadly 'pink cocaine' Former Grand Isle councilman convicted of child sex abuse Several states call for tighter restrictions on SNAP benefits Woman killed in Metairie house fire President Trump gives Elon Musk an Oval Office send-off Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Diddy' trial takeaways: Defense questions ex-employee on why she kept working for Sean Combs despite alleged abuse
A former employee of Sean 'Diddy' Combs faced sharp questions on cross-examination Friday as the hip-hop mogul's federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial ended its third week of testimony. The employee – testifying under the pseudonym 'Mia' – testified with a stronger tone under cross examination, in contrast to her guarded manner during questioning by prosecutors when she spoke with her head bowed down and her bangs covering her face, at times responding in nearly a whisper. She is expected to resume cross-examination on Monday. Her testimony comes as the prosecution has sought to show Combs and his inner circle formed a criminal enterprise that used threats, violence, forced labor, drugs, bribery, arson, kidnapping and lies in order to coerce his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura into participating in 'Freak Offs' and to protect the music mogul's reputation. Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted, he could face a sentence of up to life in prison. His defense has acknowledged Combs was violent but has questioned the motives of those testifying, and has said the accusations fall short of a racketeering conspiracy. Here's what we learned on Friday. Mia testified on Thursday that Combs physically and sexually assaulted her, humiliated her and forced her to work grueling hours during her employment. On cross-examination Friday, defense attorney Brian Steel challenged her to explain why she still worked there from 2009 until 2017. 'In an abusive relationship there's a cycle of violence,' she said. 'I was young and manipulated and eager to survive. I'm unraveling a lot of this now in therapy. Nobody was there to say these things that were happening were wrong. There was nobody around us that ever even flinched at his behavior.' 'Why did you need someone else saying that it was wrong of Mr. Combs to make you feel like he would kill you?' Steel asked. Mia said there was a difference between her 'logic brain' and her 'trauma brain,' and the latter often won out. 'Eventually it becomes normalized and you're just trying to get back to the good. You make excuses for people. I'm a people-pleaser, I'm an empath, I'm a rule-follower,' Mia said. 'I just wanted to do my best and make everybody happy all the time.' Steel suggested three times that Mia made up her sexual assault allegations against Combs, but she stood firm. 'What I said in this courtroom is true. I have not lied to anyone at all,' she said. In addition, Steel asked Mia why she sent distraught messages threatening suicide in December 2016 after she learned her primary work project, Revolt Films, would be shutting down. Mia said she had finally gotten to the point where she was working in film and TV and loved what she did, in spite of alleged abuse from her boss. 'I didn't want to leave the company that I built where I was actually starting to see my dreams come to fruition,' she testified. Steel asked why it wouldn't be a good thing, since then she would be away from her abuser. 'At the time I didn't realize that,' Mia said. 'In hindsight, fantastic, but at the time the worst thing in the world.' The defense confronted Mia with about three dozen warm and friendly social media posts Mia made about Combs over the years following the alleged sexual assaults she described to the jury on Thursday. Defense attorney Steel highlighted some of the posts, including birthday wishes and photos of them together at Burning Man and at star-studded events. In some captions she called Combs her 'mentor,' an 'inspiration' and a 'legend,' signing several posts with 'Love You.' For example, in June 2014, Combs posted an Instagram photo of them together for her birthday and wrote, 'Beside every great man is a great woman' and 'Ps sorry I was acting crazy last night.' She reposted it and added, 'love you, you've shown me the world.' However, Mia testified that Combs had threatened her life the night before. She also posted a photo collage of him on Instagram for his 45th birthday, adding, 'Thank you for being the good kind of crazy and continuing to inspire me every day.' Steel challenged how Mia could write those words about someone who 'ruined' her life. On the stand, Mia said social media was about showing how great your life is – even if it isn't true – and said promoting her life around Combs was part of the job. 'The highs were high and the goods were good. You just fought so hard to stay in that,' Mia said. 'I was in fear any time Puff was not happy because I wanted to make sure that he was, because then I was safe,' she also testified. At the end of her direct testimony earlier on Friday, Mia testified about the end of her work relationship with Combs, her struggles with severe PTSD and her inability to keep a job. Mia testified that while she was in South Africa with Ventura in 2015, Combs threatened her, cursed at her, and threatened her job if she didn't return home early. Mia later emailed him about the price of flights and flight changes, asking him to tell her what to do and saying she loved him. 'I'm tiptoeing, that's the way I would survive so I didn't make him more mad or make him think that I thought what he was doing was wrong,' Mia testified. She testified that she tried to 'run away' from the job multiple times but felt she would never be able to be hired again. 'He would have destroyed my reputation,' she said. 'I was scared of him.' Their work relationship broke down for good in the fall of 2016, when Mia said she was told by another executive that Combs wanted to end Revolt Films, her primary project. She said she was in 'shock' and felt betrayed by the fact that Combs didn't tell her himself. Mia testified she hired employment attorneys in 2017 to negotiate her severance and bonuses she still hadn't been paid – a decision that she learned Combs viewed as a betrayal. After a months-long negotiation, they settled for around $400,000, of which she received about $200,000, she said. Beginning two weeks after Cassie Ventura filed her lawsuit against Combs in November 2023, Mia said she received several messages from Combs and his security guard asking for her to call Combs, but she declined, making excuses at times that she didn't have cell service. 'I just didn't want anything to do with him at all,' she testified. 'He was the person I was traumatized by.' She testified she understood the outreach to mean, 'Puff wanted D-Roc (the aforementioned security guard) to get to me and make sure I wasn't a threat.' Mia testified she has severe PTSD and hasn't been able to work since her time working for Combs. When she tried to work, 'I would be triggered by really normal situations with like an overwhelming sense of fear of being in trouble,' she said. For example, someone at work asked her where she was – hoping to get a coffee with her – but she was flooded with fear, she testified. When asked who caused her to have those feelings, Mia said, 'Puff.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Witness accusing Sean Combs of sexual assault defends online posts of 'great times'
The defense for Sean "Diddy" Combs on Friday used upbeat social media posts to attack the credibility of one of the women accusing the music mogul of sexual assault during his federal trial in New York. "Isn't it true that Mr Combs never had unwanted nonconsensual forcible contact with you?" lawyer Brian Steel said to a former Bad Boys Records assistant testifying under the pseudonym Mia, during questioning that included displays of her personal social media posts. The testimony came as US President Donald Trump pondered aloud if he would offer 55-year-old Combs a pardon during a press conference at the White House Friday, saying "I don't know, I would certainly look at the facts." The facts are still unfolding in a trial that is expected to last into summer, in a case that revolves around Combs's relationship with his former girlfriend, singer Casandra "Cassie" Ventura. Earlier in the trial Ventura detailed years of alleged abuse and coercive, drug-fueled sex marathons with male prostitutes known as "freak-offs." This week, Mia described how her job between 2009 and 2017 became a nightmare as she worked to protect Ventura from Combs's fits of rage, or care for her after the attacks, tending to "busted lips," "bruises" and "a black eye." Combs would tell Mia to "go take care of her," adding that "we were not allowed" to go out until her injuries healed enough to conceal, Mia testified Thursday. She also testified that she personally endured abuses, including rapes, while working for Combs, recounting the painful and traumatic episodes with her head bowed. - Instagram vs reality - During cross examination on Friday, Steel confronted Mia with her social media posts, where she presented a much more positive image of her relationship with her boss. On a courtroom screen displaying Mia's Instagram posts, she called Combs "an extraordinary cultural phenomenon" and shared affectionate messages on his birthdays. Steel asked how she could publish such posts about a man she now accuses of sexual assault. "Of course you post the great times," Mia said. "Instagram is a place to show how great your life was even if it's not true." After Mia read her posts aloud, Steel questioned Mia's allegations, to which she replied twice "everything I said in this courtroom is true." "Ask any abuse victim's advocate and they could explain it to you much better than I could." On Thursday, Mia testified that Combs subjected her to "sporadic" instances of sexual violence, including at the artist's 40th birthday party at the Plaza Hotel in New York and his private residence in Los Angeles. "I just froze, I didn't react, terrified and confused," Mia said about one of the assaults. "He was the boss or the king, very powerful person," she said. "This is years and years before social media, Me Too, or any sort of example where someone had stood up successfully to someone in power such as him," she added. At the conclusion of the court's proceedings, jurors will have to determine whether that Grammy-winning artist and producer has used his fame, wealth and influence in hip-hop to support a criminal enterprise and sexual trafficking. arb/sla/jgc
