Why has Usher, Steve Harvey been mentioned around Diddy's case?

Yahoo

22-05-2025

(NewsNation) — Several celebrities have already testified in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' federal trial, including Kid Cudi on Thursday and Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura near the start of his trial.
Other celebrities' names have been circulating online and on social media surrounding the trial, despite not having been in court. Those including Usher, Steve Harvey and Wendy Williams.
But what connections do they have to Combs?
Dawn Richard, a former member of Danity Kane, testified that Usher had seen Combs punch Ventura 'hard' in 2010 at a restaurant in West Hollywood
On May 19, Richard told the court, 'Mr. Combs punched Cassie in the stomach. They were having a private conversation, and he punched her in the stomach. She immediately leaned over and left.' Richard also claimed that Ne-Yo, record executive Jimmy Iovine and Big Daddy Kane were there as well.
Richard then said that she and Ventura had been about to leave when another altercation took place between Combs and Ventura.
'We got in the car to head back to her house. Combs grabbed her, slapped her, popped her in the mouth and told her to shut the f–k up. Everyone was quiet the rest of the ride,' she told jurors.
When Usher was 13 years old, Combs became his legal guardian, according to Newsweek. Usher has allegedly talked about being exposed to a lot at a young age when being with Combs. In 2004, he had told Rolling Stone that Combs had shown him 'a totally different set of s–t — sex, specifically.'
Kid Cudi on the witness stand in Diddy trial
Of Combs' home, Usher had said, 'There was always girls around. You'd open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen.'
The Daily Mail reported that, in 2013, Usher spoke at his 35th birthday celebration about Combs, saying, 'I was introduced to everything by Puff Daddy when I was only 15. Parties, women, sex and drugs. I've had a taste of it, but I'd never let it take me over.' He also allegedly said that he would give anyone else the advice that Combs had given him.
Diddy allegedly broke into Kid Cudi's Hollywood Hills home
In 2016, during a Howard Stern interview, Usher talked about Combs' parties, which were reportedly nicknamed 'Puffy Flavor Camp.' He had said, 'There were very curious things taking place' at Combs' parties and said he would never send his kids to one of the parties.
Usher has not said anything publicly about Combs' current trial.
According to Grazia, Steve Harvey, who is the host of Family Feud, deleted a 2017 tweet that had shown support for Combs. Harvey allegedly deleted the tweet after Combs had been arrested, with the original tweet saying, 'My brother @Diddy is doing a world of good for these kids.'
It's not clear what this was referencing, but Grazia reported that it could be the $1 million that Combs donated to Howard University in 2016. This donation created the Sean Combs Scholarship Fund, which helped students who couldn't pay tuition.
However, in 2024, Combs' honorary doctorate was revoked by the university, and his $1 million donation was returned. University officials also terminated his pledge agreement.
It had also been rumored in 2019 that Combs dated Harvey's stepdaughter, Lori. Grazia reported that the two, along with her father, were seen in Italy together. Rumors also linked Lori to Justin Combs, the son of Diddy, but she denied both rumors years later.
Since the start of Combs' trial, users on social media have started sharing old clips of Wendy Williams. In those clips, she makes several claims against Combs, including that she was fired from a radio job because she said he was gay.
Williams claimed she was fired from Hot 97 in 1998 after she said that she believed Combs was gay. Williams then reportedly said that she had a photo of Combs with another man. According to the Daily Mail, Gene Deal, Combs' former security guard, seemed to confirm what Williams said in 2022.
Deal had told Vibe, '(Diddy) got one of the hottest DJs off Hot 97 because she wanted to put up a picture of him getting his pants pulled down.'
Williams went on to host The Wendy Williams Show and continued sharing claims about Combs. In 2024, she told The Daily Mail, 'You know how I feel about that? It is about time. To see this video on TV of (Cassie) getting pummeled… it was just horrific.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.