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Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Mick Jagger, Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna are dragged into Diddy trial as the case enters its fourth week
The fourth week of Diddy 's infamous sex trafficking trial kicked off with a bang as his former assistant took the stand and more A-list celebrities were named - only to face a relentless cross-examination by the disgraced mogul's attorney, Brian Steel. Hollywood heavyweights like Mick Jagger, Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna were pulled into the spotlight as Diddy's legal team sifted through a trove of text messages between the disgraced rap mogul and his former assistant, aggressively questioning her about past employers and connections. 'Mia', a former personal assistant to the hip hop mogul, even revealed that she was once propositioned by the Rolling Stones singer while in Paris but 'ran away'. Mia, who testified under a pseudonym, said Diddy once mocked DiCaprio as 'that Titanic mother******' and said he won more money than the actor. In her testimony, Mia also revealed that after stopping working for Diddy she got a job with Madonna who didn't care that she had been 'blacklisted'. The testimony came as prosecutors continued mounting their case and Mia was subjected to an aggressive cross-examination by Diddy's lawyer Brian Steel. Steel accused Mia of being part of the 'MeToo money grab' but she claimed to have been 'brainwashed' during the decade she worked for Diddy until 2017. Mia is one of the prosecution's star witnesses and claimed that Diddy raped her once and sexually assaulted her numerous times. Steel relentlessly accused Mia of cashing into the MeToo movement, but she claimed to have been 'brainwashed' during the decade she worked for Diddy until 2017 At the court in New York, she was asked about the flattering and friendly messages she sent to Diddy after she stopped working for him. One of them was from March 2020, in which she said: 'Love you too and the only things to remember are the good times and those are the only memories I have.' Mia wrote: 'Ha ha ha like f****** HYSTERICAL ones…so many magical hilarious things like drinking 1942 (tequila) on the Parrot Cay beach (in Turks and Caicos) and champagne under the Eiffel Tower at Mick Jagger trying to take me home and I ran away.' In another part of the message, Mia referred to DiCaprio. Recalling other memories, Mia said: 'Leo grabbed my pink bedazzled blackberry and you (Diddy) said: 'That titanic mother****** doesn't know s*** he won 10K, I won 85k HAHAHAHAHAHA.' Mia did not explain the context of what she was referring to with DiCaprio, who attended Diddy's notorious 'White Parties' but has not been accused of wrongdoing. DiCaprio was photographed with Diddy at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. In 2019, DiCaprio was filmed dancing at Diddy's 50th birthday party. And in a video interview with Vogue in 2017, entitled '73 Questions with Sean 'Diddy' Combs', he said DiCaprio was the 'number one' person on the invite list for his then-upcoming White Party. When Diddy was arrested last September sources close to DiCaprio sought to put distance between them and said he has 'absolutely nothing to do with any of this'. The source said: 'He attended a few of his parties back in the early 2000s - but literally everyone did.' In her testimony, Mia told the court that after leaving Diddy's employment in March 2017, she got a job with Madonna in April the following year. Explaining her role, Mia said she did 'a myriad of things'. She said: 'I was hired to help lead her film division, but she also needed help restructuring her executive team. It morphed into multiple roles. I also operated in an assistant-esque capacity.' Mia confirmed she worked directly with Madonna and that she initially agreed to work for her for three months, but it extended to eight months. Combs' lawyer Brian Steel asked: 'To your knowledge did Mr. Combs assist you in getting that job?' Mia replied: 'Absolutely not.' Steel asked if there was 'any evidence to show you were somehow blacklisted?' Mia replied: 'Blacklisted? She (Madonna) didn't care about that. Of course not.' At times, Steel's cross-examination grew confrontational, and prosecutor Maurene Comey objected and called it 'humiliating'. She claimed that Steel had 'yelled' at Mia and been 'sarcastic' towards her. But Judge Subramanian disagreed and said that prosecutors could object if they heard something they didn't like. They did just that when Steel asked if Mia 'joined the MeToo money grab against Sean Combs?' Mia was not allowed to answer. Steel asked Mia about other messages she sent to Diddy after stopping working for him, focusing on a text on January 15, 2019, which read: 'Just thinking of you today and every day…. I had a nightmare I was trapped in an elevator with R. Kelly. I screamed and you came to rescue me.' Steel asked: 'The person who sexually assaulted you came to your rescue?' Mia said yes. Steel asked: 'You had that vision in your mind, but you expressed it to Mr. Combs?' Mia agreed. Steel said: 'You had to tell him he's your savior?' Mia said: 'Yes.' Steel asked: 'The person who you told the jury terrorized you and caused you PTSD you wrote to that person and explained how that person saved you?' Diddy's sons Justin Combs (left) and Quincy Brown (right) - the disgraced rapper's adopted son from Kim Porter - were both at their father's trial today After an objection, Mia didn't answer. When asked about a March 18, 2019, text to Diddy in which she wrote about 'sending all the love in the world' to him with a heart emoji, Mia said that he 'used to be my protector'. That same day, she messaged Diddy: 'Speaking of, you should watch Love on Netflix,' referring to the 2016 comedy. Mia added: 'Judd Apatow created it. It's Superbad funny'. In August 2020, Mia messaged Diddy about the death of Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther star who died at 43 from colon cancer. Mia wrote: 'Thinking about you because I was thinking about Chaz Boseman and our sick James Brown auditions'. In court, Mia said she was remembering Boseman for his auditioning for a biopic of James Brown and it was 'really intense'. During another tense exchange, Steel asked: 'Your testimony that you were the victim at the hands of Mr. Combs brutality and sexual assaults is not true?' Mia replied: 'I have never lied in this courtroom. I will never lie in this courtroom. Everything I said is true.' Asked why Mia didn't raise concerns about Diddy or speak out earlier, she claimed to have been 'brainwashed' by him. She said: 'I was in an environment where the highs were really high, and the lows were really low which created a huge confusion in me trusting my instincts. 'I was punished whenever Puff would be violent and I'd react, confusing me and making me believe I'd done something wrong. 'I'd try so hard to get back to that good space and work harder and be nicer and nobody around batted an eye. He was still praised by everyone around him and the public. 'I felt like I had done something horrifically like I'd betrayed him by going to mediation and I felt horrible about it. I'd done something wrong and was always constantly seeking his approval. He was my authority figure.' Steel said: 'Are you finished?' Mia said: 'Sure.' Mia also talked about her duties while working as a personal assistant to the actor and comedian Mike Myers, who she worked for before Diddy. The jury was shown Mia's resume which explained how she handled all 'unique requests' for Myers, who starred in the film Wayne's World. The resume read: 'E.g. set up a private and confidential tour of the CIA by corresponding with Secret Service agents and government officials.' According to reports from 2009, Myers addressed several hundred CIA officers and paid tribute to his mother who was in the British Royal Air Force in WWII.
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
FIFA's inaugural Club World Cup set to kick off in the US amid challenges
June 3 (Reuters) - FIFA's billion-dollar gamble to revolutionise club football begins a week on Sunday with plenty of cash up for grabs but questionable enthusiasm as 32 teams prepare to contest the expanded Club World Cup in 12 stadiums across the United States. The tournament – designed as a glittering showcase ahead of the 2026 World Cup – has had to contend with the prospect of empty seats along with controversial qualification rules and player welfare concerns after an exhausting European season. Lionel Messi's Inter Miami face Saudi Arabia's Al Ahly in the opening fixture on June 15 at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, with tickets still widely available days before kickoff. A glance at FIFA's website shows lots of tickets available, including for the July 13 final at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. Messi's presence underscores the tournament's contentious foundations. Inter Miami gained entry by topping Major League Soccer's regular season standings, despite losing in the first round of the playoffs – a decision critics say shows FIFA's desperation to have the Argentina great at their inaugural showpiece. FIFA's decision to give the host nation a spot and award it to Inter Miami underlined the opaque nature of the qualifying criteria for the tournament, which won't feature Liverpool, Barcelona or Napoli who have all just been crowned champions of three of the most prestigious leagues in Europe. Apart from the winners of each confederation's premier club competitions, teams qualified according to a ranking based on their performances over a four-year period. There is also the case of Club Leon, the 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners, who were excluded from the tournament just over a month ago due to having shared ownership with another qualifier. The spot has gone to MLS's Los Angeles FC. Nailing down a last-gasp $1 billion TV rights deal with sports streaming platform DAZN six months before the tournament means a total of $2 billion in expected revenues. That led FIFA to announce a total prize pot of $1 billion, with the winning club to receive up to $125 million. That figure represents 25% more than Paris St Germain earned from their entire 17-match Champions League campaign. But this largesse has not quelled concerns about player welfare, with the global players union FIFPro taking legal action against FIFA over a tournament that further compresses the precious recovery time between gruelling seasons. Furthermore there is still concern over the playing surfaces after last season's Copa America, when many headlines focused on the sub-par conditions and smaller pitch dimensions. Those pitches, measuring 100 by 64 metres, were 740 square metres smaller than FIFA's standard size, prompting widespread discontent among players and coaches. FIFA has given assurances that this time the NFL stadiums hosting the matches will meet their specifications, confirming that all venues will feature natural grass and adhere to the standard regulation dimensions of 105 by 68 metres. Divided into eight groups of four teams, top contenders include Real Madrid, winners of six of the last 12 Champions League titles, plus German champions Bayern Munich and 2023 Premier League and Champions League winners Manchester City. European champions Paris St Germain are the in-form team heading into the tournament after their historic 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in the Champions League final on Saturday. But they must survive a tough Group B featuring South American and Brazilian champions Botafogo and 2024 CONCACAF winners Seattle Sounders plus Spanish giants Atletico Madrid. Whether you call it soccer or football, for FIFA the tournament represents a dress rehearsal and a referendum on America's appetite for the sport and on the world governing body's vision for its commercial future ahead of the 2026 World Cup being co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Reuters
24 minutes ago
- Reuters
Dodgers acquire RHP Will Klein from Mariners amid bullpen shuffle
June 2 - The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired right-hander Will Klein in a trade with the Seattle Mariners on Monday in exchange for minor league left-hander Joe Jacques. The Dodgers added Klein and right-hander Ryan Loutos to the active roster in advance of Monday's series opener at home against the New York Mets, while right-hander Noah Davis was optioned to the minor leagues and right-hander Chris Stratton was designated for assignment. Klein, 25, has eight career major league appearances, all last season for the Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics when he had an 11.05 ERA in 7 1/3 innings of relief. He had a 7.17 ERA in 22 appearances at Triple-A Tacoma this season. Loutos, 26, was recalled after he had one appearance with the Dodgers earlier this season, when he gave up two runs in one inning. He had three appearances with the St. Louis Cardinals last season and has a career 5.40 ERA in 3 1/3 innings. Davis, 28, had a 5.79 ERA in four relief appearances with the Dodgers this season, while Stratton, 34, had a 6.00 ERA in two relief appearances for Los Angeles. Jacques, 30, is 2-1 with a 5.46 ERA and one save in 25 career games (one start) with the Boston Red Sox (2023-24) and Arizona Diamondbacks (2024). Playing this season on a minor league deal, Jacques is 1-1 with a 6.04 ERA and three saves in 18 appearances with Triple-A Oklahoma City. --Field Level Media
