Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' chilling threat to Cassie as she partied with Rita Ora
An 'enraged' Sean 'Diddy' Combs once repeatedly struck his longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura 'pretty hard' in front of her friends because she didn't answer her phone, a celebrity stylist testified Wednesday.
Deonte Nash told jurors at Combs' bombshell federal trial in Manhattan that he witnessed the disgraced music mogul fly into a violent rage in Ventura's apartment as the stylist was helping her pack for a trip in 2013.
'B–h, didn't I tell you to answer the phone?' Nash recounted Combs saying.
He 'grabbed her by the hair, pulled her off the couch and started hitting her,' the stylist said.
The alleged ordeal, which unfolded as Ventura was prepping to leave for Drake's OVO festival in Toronto, took place in front of the stylist and a handful of others, Nash testified.
Nash — who was Ventura's long-time stylist and considered them close friends — also told jurors that Combs tried to control every aspect of his then-girlfriend's life.
He once forced the R&B singer to come home from a 2013 night out at a Los Angeles gay club because he was angry she'd gone there with Nash, singer Rita Ora and Cheetah Girls singer Adrienne Bailon-Houghton.
The celebrity stylist told jurors they were at the club when Ventura took a call from Combs on speakerphone during which he allegedly told her that 'she better bring her ass to his house.'
'She started to panic,' Nash told the jury.
'Then [Combs] called back and he talked to me and told me that we were wildin' and that he thought he told us not to be going out since every time I go out that b–h wanna go.'
Nash testified that Ventura 'just packed her stuff and went to his house.'
The stylist, who also worked for Combs from 2008 to 2018, said this was one of two times the disgraced Bad Boy Records founder had told him and Ventura that they needed permission from him before going out.
The 'I'll Be Missing You' rapper even got violent with Nash a 'few' times, including once choking him for going out with Ventura, he testified.
Combs 'threw me on the car and started choking me out,' Nash testified of the incident that allegedly took place in 2013 while Ventura was shooting a music video for her song 'I Love It.'
As Ventura's stylist, Nash said he had to repeatedly seek approval from Combs for her outfits and appearance.
He alleged, too, that an irate Combs once put his hands on him before the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscars party after the rapper blew up because Ventura had opted to wear her hair down.
'She looked bomb … Her hair was long,' Nash said, alleging that a fuming Combs told him: 'I thought I told you to keep her hair up.'
Combs then 'grabbed me by my jacket and lifted me up,' he testified.
Once Nash had pinned Ventura's hair up, he said Combs declared: 'I was right, it looks better that way.'
Nash — who noted he spent almost every day with Ventura — alleged he also constantly overheard Combs berating and threatening his then-girlfriend.
Asked what threats he overheard, the stylist responded: 'That he would beat her ass. That he wouldn't put her music out. That he would get her parents fired from her jobs and that he would send her sex tapes to their jobs.'
'He told her she was nothing but a s–t anyway,' Nash added.
The stylist testified, too, that the alleged abuse drove Ventura 'crazy.'
'She would be super emotional, would cry, sometimes she would just stay in the house for days and go into a cocoon,' he said.
It got to the point that Nash said he'd help Ventura 'hide' at hotels to get away from Combs' violent moods — 'too many [times] to count,' he testified.
When the hip hop artist couldn't find his on-and-off girlfriend, he 'would blow everyone's phones up and threaten everybody' to try to get her to come home, Nash testified.
'He would call incessantly,' saying 'that we needed to get back to the house,' Nash recounted.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking. He could face life in prison, if convicted.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
What we know about the suspected 'terror attack' at the Boulder mall
It happens every week in Boulder, Colorado. A group of volunteers from the Run for Their Lives organisation silently march through the streets to raise awareness of the hostages still held in Gaza. About 20 or 30 had turned up this Sunday, stopping at the courthouse where they usually read the names of those hostages. "There was somebody there that I didn't even notice," participant Ed Victor told CBS News. "Although he was making a lot of noise, but I'm just focused on my job of being quiet and getting lined up. "And from my point of view, all of a sudden, I felt the heat." Lynn Segal, 72, was also among the group gathered when a "rope of fire" shot in front of her and then "two big flares". She said the scene at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block area in downtown Boulder, quickly turned chaotic as people worked to find water to put out flames and find help. "There were people who were burning. I wanted to help but I didn't want to be associated with the perpetrator," said Ms Segal, who said she was wearing a pro-Palestinian T-shirt. The FBI said the suspect allegedly shouted "Free Palestine" while using a makeshift flamethrower at a crowd of people. FBI leaders in Washington said they were treating the Boulder attack as an act of terrorism. The Justice Department said the attack was a "needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans". However, local police in Boulder were cautious about describing the incident as a terror attack. Chief Redfearn said authorities received a call at 1:26pm on Sunday, local time, that indicated a man armed with a weapon was setting people on fire. Six people, aged between 67 and 88 years old, were injured. He said the injuries were consistent with reports of individuals being set on fire. They were taken to the Boulder Community Hospital with injuries ranging in severity from "very serious" to "minor", and some were later transported to other hospitals. At least one of them was in a critical condition, authorities said. The Boulder Police Department evacuated the pedestrian mall area. Law enforcement officers with a police dog walked through the streets, securing the area and examining a "vehicle of interest". Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old at the University of Colorado who witnessed the incident, said she saw four women lying or sitting on the ground with burns on their legs. She said one of them appeared to have been badly burned on most of her body and someone had wrapped her in a flag. Ms Coffman described seeing a man who she presumed to be the attacker standing in the courtyard, shirtless, holding a glass bottle of clear liquid and shouting. The FBI has identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman. He was taken into custody at the scene and transported to hospital, but authorities did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries. Officials did not immediately announce any charges but said they expected to hold him "fully accountable". Chief Redfearn said he did not believe anyone else was involved in the incident. Mark Michalek, the FBI special agent in charge of the Denver field office, said the federal law enforcement agency was investigating the attack. The incident came just weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC. In that case, authorities allege a Chicago-born man opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights anti-semitism and supports Israel. FBI director Kash Patel described the latest incident as a "targeted terror attack". His words were echoed by the bureau's deputy director, Dan Bongino, in a post on X. "This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts," Mr Bongino said. "We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it." However, Chief Redfearn called for caution, saying it would be irresponsible for him to speculate on motive so soon after the incident. "We've got dozens and dozens of people here working through this to work out exactly what happened." Colorado Attorney-General Phil Weiser, meanwhile, said the incident appeared to be "a hate crime". "My thoughts are with those injured and impacted by today's attack against a group that meets weekly on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall to call for the release of the hostages in Gaza," Mr Weiser said. "People may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences. "Hate has no place in Colorado. We all have the right to peaceably assemble and the freedom to speak our views." Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. More than half the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel has rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's ensuing military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead are civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians, according to the United Nations estimates. ABC/wires
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘No. Well, no': Elon Musk blindsided by awkward question during TV interview
Elon Musk should probably have a chat with his PR team. The billionaire boss of Tesla and SpaceX, who has spent this most recent week exiting the Trump administration, was caught in an awkward moment today as a TV interviewer tried to probe his views on the US government's current policies. Mr Musk donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Donald Trump's election campaign last year, and was then appointed to head up the nebulous Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), whose aim is to slash government spending. Whether it's a real government department or not, and whether Mr Musk was actually, technically leading it or not, and whether its actions have been legally sound or not, are all questions that are still being litigated. DOGE has fallen rather short of Mr Musk's initial assertion, during the campaign, that he would cut $US2 trillion from the federal budget. His DOGE team currently claims to have slashed around $US150 billion, and has repeatedly had to edit specific claimed cuts after getting its facts wrong. Oh, and Mr Trump's Republican Party in Congress has put forward a budget that would, in fact, balloon America's federal deficit. So ... incremental progress, at best. I digress. The interview. Mr Musk was speaking to CBS News journalist David Pogue. One slightly explosive excerpt was released by CBS last week, ahead of the full thing airing. It showed Mr Musk critiquing the aforementioned budget, supported by Mr Trump, which he said 'undermines the work the DOGE team is doing'. 'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly,' Mr Musk said in the clip, adding that the Republicans' bill 'increases the budget deficit'. Now that we can watch the full interview, it turns out those quotes from Mr Musk were only given reluctantly. Mr Pogue began by asking Mr Musk about Mr Trump's tariffs. 'I noticed that all of your businesses involve a lot of components, a lot of parts. Do the tariffs and the trade wars affect any of this?' he asked. 'You know, tariffs always affect things a little bit,' replied Mr Musk, visibly uncomfortable with the line of questioning. Mr Pogue pivoted to Mr Trump's clampdown on foreign students coming to America. 'Wondering what your thought is on the ban on foreign students,' he said. 'I mean, you were one of those kids, right?' Mr Musk, who was born in South Africa, had stint in Canada and then came to the United States on a student visa in the 1990s. 'Yeah, I mean, I think we want to stick to, you know, the subject of the day. Which is, like, spaceships, as opposed to presidential policy,' Mr Musk told Mr Pogue. 'OK? I was told anything's good,' said the reporter. 'No. Well. No,' said Mr Musk, with a grim smile. A mix-up, it seems, between CBS and Mr Musk's PR team. Or a case of Mr Musk undercutting said PR team. Either way, it was awkward. But he was eventually coaxed to speak about the Trump administration's policies, as shown by the quotes mentioned earlier. The CBS interview aired a couple of days after Mr Musk's farewell press conference alongside Mr Trump in the Oval Office. In a case of inconvenient timing, that media conference happened shortly after a New York Times report on the DOGE boss's alleged drug use was published. Mr Musk was asked about the report which, among other things, cited sources to say his use of ketamine was so chronic that he had come to suffer from bladder issues. It also alleged he had been using ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. 'Is this The New York Times?' Mr Musk said, cutting off Fox News journalist Peter Doocy as he asked about the report. 'Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on Russia-gate? 'I think the judge just ruled against The New York Times for their lies about the Russiagate hoax, and they might have to give back that prize. 'Let's move on.' He did not directly address the allegations about his drug use. 'Russia-gate' has become a catch-all for the American media's reporting on Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as the FBI's investigation into that interference, mostly led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, who was appointed to be a special counsel by Mr Trump's Justice Department during his first term. The Mueller investigation resulted in dozens of prosecutions, which encompassed several of the staff in Mr Trump's inner circle – chiefly his 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort. But it did not find sufficient evidence to support the conspiracy theory of so-called 'collusion' between Mr Trump and Russia. In his remarks, there, Mr Musk appears to have been referring to a ruling from a court in Florida. The Pulitzer Prize Board wanted to have a defamation trial, regarding its decision to award prizes to both The New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on Russia's interference, deferred until after Mr Trump's current term in office. The court denied that motion. The New York Times report also asserted that Mr Musk had been forewarned about random drug tests at SpaceX, whose extensive government contracts mean it is subject to certain, quite stringent rules. Needless to say, the billionaire's employees receive no such warnings. Mr Musk has previously claimed he only uses ketamine infrequently, every couple of weeks. Later on the same day as the Oval Office press conference, Mr Trump was asked directly about the New York Times report. 'Were you aware of Elon Musk's regular drug use?' a journalist asked him. 'No, I wasn't. I think he's fantastic. I think Elon is a fantastic guy,' said Mr Trump. 'Are you troubled by these reports?' the reporter followed up. 'I'm not troubled by anything with Elon. I think he's fantastic. Did a great job,' he said. 'And, you know, DOGE continues. And by the time it's finished, we'll have numbers that'll knock your socks off. It's going to be, uh, he did a fantastic job. And he didn't need it. He didn't need to do it.' Mr Musk, for his part, exited the administration with a message of gratitude. 'As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,' he posted on social media.
Daily Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
‘Aussie Bieber' hints at new bub
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News. Rumours are swirling that Aussie singer Jai Waetford has officially become a dad. It comes after the former X Factor Australia star shared a video showing his partner, Bec Donaghy, cradling a newborn to his Instagram story on Friday. While there has been no formal announcement or confirmation, the post has Confidential convinced baby Waetford has arrived. The sweet moment comes five months after the couple first revealed they were expecting, sharing three glowing photos in January, with Donaghy proudly showing off her baby bump. 'Baby Waetford coming 2025,' the 25-year-old wrote at the time. Jai Waetford posts with his partner and newborn. Instagram The pair have remained largely private since then, with no bump updates shared since February. Waetford first captured Australian hearts in 2013 when he skyrocketed to fame as a 14-year-old finalist on The X Factor Australia, earning the nickname 'Aussie Bieber.' Jai Waetford posts with his partner and newborn. Instagram X Factor star Jai Waetford is expecting his first child after his pregnancy announcement New Year's Day. Picture: Instagram @jaiwaetford, Waetford has been contacted for comment. Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email tips@
