Diddy's family is in the public eye. Could they influence the jury?

Yahoo

a day ago

Sean 'Diddy' Combs, once a fixture of the Hollywood spotlight, has not been seen publicly since his arrest last September.
In his absence, the cameras have been trained on the music mogul's mother, Janice Combs, and his six adult children: Quincy Brown, Christian 'King' Combs, Justin Dior Combs, Chance Combs, and twins Jessie and D'Lila Combs.
Together, they have presented a striking, united front — holding hands and maintaining brave faces amid disturbing testimony at Combs's federal trial, where he has pleaded not guilty to five charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence.
Combs's team has said that it won't call witnesses to the stand when it begins its brief presentation this week, but his family's presence and demeanor in the courtroom could provide its own narrative. In high-profile cases like this, legal and public relations experts say, the emotional subtext jurors absorb from the gallery can be nearly as powerful as the evidence presented on the stand.
'Trials are very interesting in that you have almost two different narratives going on at the same time,' said Mark Chutkow, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit who handled sex trafficking and RICO cases in the Eastern District of Michigan.
'You have what is happening on the witness stand, which is the documents, the exhibits, the testimony, the things that become the body of the court record,' he said. 'And then you have a subtle thing that's happening in the courtroom that never gets recorded but is, in many cases, almost as important.'
And the jurors, with a 360-degree view of the courtroom, often have the best vantage point.
'They're not only looking at the witness stand. They're looking at the reactions of the judge, they're especially looking at the reactions of the defendant to the evidence and then they're looking to the gallery for the reactions of everyone else,' Chutkow said. 'And so here, it seems like the defense team is likely highly choreographing and calibrating the use of Combs's family perhaps in an effort to help shape that second level of narrative opinion.' A representative for the family declined a request for comment.
Prosecutors were long wary about the family's potential involvement in Combs's case. Two months after his arrest, they accused him of obstructing justice by enlisting his family members to contact potential victims and witnesses. The government also claimed Combs directed his kids to plan and execute a social media campaign 'with the intention of influencing the potential jury' — citing a video they shared of their phone call with him for his 55th birthday in November.
Other posts that month included the premiere episode of Brown's YouTube vlog series documenting a 'behind-the-scenes' look at the Combs family, and an announcement from Christian, who said he would take over his father's Instagram to spread 'good energy' and remind followers 'of all the positive things he did.'
Christian, 27, has also spoken out through his music. Last year, he dropped a diss track against critics of his family and the federal raids of Combs's homes. And in a song released in February, he took a softened approach, as he rapped, 'I just want to hug my pops/ Get one more dance.'
Christian has also collaborated on music with Ye, the controversial rapper formerly known as Kanye West. On June 13, they arrived at Combs's trial together as Ye continues to call for his rap peer's release from jail — alleging that the charges against Combs are a conspiracy and racially motivated.
Similarly, Janice has characterized her son's legal troubles as a 'public lynching' — racially charged language that appeared to bolster Combs's claims that he is being unfairly prosecuted because of his race, said Evan Nierman, founder and CEO of Red Banyan, a public relations and crisis communications firm.
'It's undeniable at this point that Diddy's brand has suffered irreparable damage regardless of how the court case shakes out,' he said. 'I think the involvement of the family is meant to have an impact in the courtroom, as well as in the broader court of public opinion.'
A master of reinvention, Combs built his empire by cycling through public personas as a music mogul, entertainer, reality TV titan, fashion icon and modern-day Gatsby.
Before his legal troubles ignited, he had already embarked on a new identity as Love, which he called both his 'mission' and his middle name (it's also the name of his seventh child — a 2-year-old girl he shares with model Dana Tran).
Combs credited this new era, in part, to the sudden death of his former longtime partner Kim Porter — the mother of Brown, Christian, Jessie and D'Lila.
'Before this, I was a part-time father, you know?' Combs said in the May 2019 issue of Essence magazine, on which he and his kids were featured on the cover.
'My family was always first, but there are countless times when I chose work over everything else. But every day I can hear her telling me to go and spend some time with the kids and make sure everybody's all right, like she would do. I'm just a lot more present, and, most important, now my kids come before anything else in my life.'
They were also part of the next phase of his career. In 2023, just a couple of months before his ex-girlfriend Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura filed her explosive lawsuit against him, Combs's daughters and Christian performed with him at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he was later honored with the Global Icon Award. And most notably, a reality show about the family was in the early stages of development at Hulu.
With the working title 'Diddy+7,' the series had a compelling cast in Combs's kids — who each have their own aspirations in the entertainment business. There is Brown, a 34-year-old actor and music artist whose biological father is singer Albert 'Al B. Sure!' Brown. (Quincy was raised by Combs during his on-and-off relationship with Porter.) Justin, 31, is Combs's son with stylist Misa Hylton and a former UCLA defensive back and entrepreneur. Christian, known by his stage name 'King Combs,' is a music artist and actor often noted for his uncanny resemblance to his father. Chance, 19, is Combs's daughter with stylist Sarah Chapman, and she is an aspiring actor who was accepted into New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2023. And Combs's 18-year-old twin daughters, Jessie and D'Lila, are aspiring models who walked the runway for Dolce & Gabbana's Alta Moda show in 2021.
Combs's series would have joined a lineage of Black family-focused television, which helped to counter negative media stereotypes with nuanced portrayals of intimacy, complexity and success.
But Hulu scrapped its plans for 'Diddy+7' in December 2023, weeks after Ventura's lawsuit.
Since then, more than 80 people have filed sexual assault complaints against Combs, detailing encounters in which they claim they were unwittingly drugged and sexually assaulted by him. Combs has repeatedly denied all of the allegations — some of which have implicated his family members.
Most referenced is Janice, 84. Since her son's arrest, Janice has faced media scrutiny and legal challenges that claim she helped conceal his alleged misconduct. According to one lawsuit, in which she is named a co-defendant with Combs, Janice pressured the accuser to accept hush money from the producer.
Janice also figures prominently in 'Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy,' a documentary on Peacock that alleges she threw boisterous parties, exposing Combs to sex and drugs during his childhood in Harlem. A lawyer for Janice did not respond to a request for comment and Combs filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal and Peacock over the film.
Combs's sons Justin and Christian have also been entangled in his legal issues.
Music producer Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones named Justin as a co-defendant in a lawsuit that accused Combs of running a sex-trafficking operation. Justin Combs was later dismissed from the case after lawyers failed to serve him. Combs's legal team has slammed the claims in Jones's suit as 'pure fiction.'
And Christian and his dad are named as defendants in a lawsuit that alleges Christian drugged and sexually assaulted a yacht stewardess while she was working on a boat chartered by Combs in December 2022. Last year, an attorney for Combs and his son told CNN that the lawsuit contained 'manufactured lies and irrelevant facts,' adding that they would seek to 'dismiss this outrageous claim.' Representatives for Christian did not respond to a request for comment.
The family has not come up often during witness testimony in Combs's trial, though they were mentioned by Jane, a former girlfriend testifying under a court-approved alias who alleges she was sex trafficked. It was one of Combs's sons, Jane said, who alerted Combs that CNN had published video showing Combs assaulting Ventura in a hotel. Combs, she said, huddled with 'family and friends' for much of the day, 'trying to come up with some sort of sincere apology post.'
Combs's children were not present during that part of Jane's testimony, and their courtroom attendance has been sporadic since the trial's opening days. Janice, who has been drawing attention with her over-the-top courtroom attire, has been the most consistent presence.
But Chutkow said it makes sense that the family, especially the kids, would opt to skip some of the trial. 'If the children are there during a lot of graphic testimony, that might feed into the concept that perhaps Puffy is using or exploiting them.'
Nierman feels differently. 'I think it would be important for daughters especially to be present during controversial testimony about mistreatment of women, which is really what a lot of this trial is based upon,' he said.
With deliberations expected to begin as early as Friday, both Chutkow and Nierman agree that how jurors perceive these moves can subtly influence the outcome of the trial.
'Because there are these two narrative stories happening at the same time, the jurors will know about it and they will talk about it amongst themselves during deliberations,' Chutkow said.
'That's the one thing that a lot of people ... don't necessarily realize,' he added. 'Everything is on trial in there, even if it's not in the court record.'