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Global News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Global News
Kid Cudi says he ‘hated every minute' of testifying in Diddy trial
Rapper Kid Cudi is opening up about his experience testifying at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in May. The Pursuit of Happiness rapper (real name Scott Mescudi) told Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper that he 'hated every minute of it,' marking the first time he has spoken out about his time at Combs' trial. Mescudi said that he turned down testifying twice but had to take the stand once he was subpoenaed. The 41-year-old rapper previously dated Cassie Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend, in 2011, and testified about their brief relationship that took place 14 years ago. 'I was just there because I had to be,' Mescudi told Cooper. 'I hated every minute of it. I did not want to do it.' But he did make it clear that he wanted to 'support Cassie,' who was a key witness in Combs' trial. Story continues below advertisement Mescudi took the stand on May 22 and testified that Combs broke into his Hollywood Hills home in 2011 after finding out he was dating his ex-girlfriend, Ventura, and said he was sure Combs was behind the firebombing of his car weeks later. The Grammy-winning rapper told Cooper that he felt 'calm' on the stand. 'I'm thinking about like, 'What am I wearing, man? Do I have to be like [in a] suit or something?' I was like, 'Man, f— this s—. This is what I'm wearing today. I'm going to this f—— s— in this. I'm not dressing up for this s—.' Like, wear some hard bottoms. I'm wearing some Solomon's, and I'm coming in with my Levi's and my leather jacket and that's it, you know?' he said, describing the outfit he wore to the federal courthouse in Manhattan. View image in full screen Rapper Kid Cudi, centre, arrives at federal court for the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs, in New York, on May 22, 2025. AP Photo/Richard Drew Mescudi spoke about coming to terms with the fact that he was there to testify in support of Ventura. Story continues below advertisement 'I thought about, when I was up there. I'm here to support Cassie, and Cassie is my friend, you know, and I love her, and I wanna see her do well,' he said. 'And when I saw her get married, I was so happy for her, you know, that she found someone, her person. When I saw that she was having kids, I was like, 'Oh, this is so awesome.' You know what I mean?' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy He said that he's 'always just wanted to see her thrive and do well and be happy because I know she was living a nightmare, and I just was there to support her.' 'That's what kind of gave me peace with it when I sat down in that chair. It was just about, 'Oh man, I gotta like, hold homegirl down' and like look out for her,' the Day 'n' Nite rapper added. Cooper asked Cudi about the period of his life when he was dating Ventura. 'It was crazy, man,' he said, before taking a long pause. 'In the moment, it was just crazy, like I had a hard time understanding if it was reality. I was like, 'Am I in a movie? What the f— is going on?'' 'It was just chaotic and intense,' he added. 'And, you know, I wasn't like, I was already out of my mind dealing with my own personal s— so I was really just like, f— it. I was just willing to walk into the fire.' Story continues below advertisement In another interview on CBS Mornings, Mescudi discussed the public response to his testimony. 'The backlash was swift. I had a lot of people that supported me, but there were a few that had some opinions about it,' Mescudi said. 'It was interesting because I'm not no street dude. I don't live by no code, you know? So I guess it's because I'm a rapper. People just threw that on me. But, like, my music has never been about that and I have never tried to pretend I was about that.' 0:56 Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial: Rapper Kid Cudi arrives to court to testify Speaking at Combs' federal sex trafficking trial in Manhattan, Mescudi said that while he and Ventura were dating, he took her to a West Hollywood hotel to get her away from Combs. While there, he said, he got a call from Combs' assistant Capricorn Clark. She told him Combs and an affiliate were in Mescudi's house and that she had been forced to go with them. Story continues below advertisement Mescudi said he called Combs while driving home and asked why he was in his house. He said Combs calmly replied, 'I want to talk to you.' But Combs wasn't there when he arrived, Mescudi testified. Instead, he found that someone had opened Christmas presents he'd purchased for his family and locked his dog in a bathroom. Mescudi wasn't sure what was going on, so he called the police. A few weeks later, Mescudi testified, his Porsche 911 convertible was damaged by fire while parked in his driveway. Mescudi said he was at a friend's house when his dog sitter called and told him his car was on fire. Jurors were shown photos of the car's red leather interior scorched and burned, with a hole in the fabric roof. A Molotov cocktail was found on the passenger seat, Mescudi said. Ventura had testified the week prior that Combs threatened to blow up Mescudi's car and hurt him after he learned she was dating the rapper. Mescudi said he didn't have conflicts at the time with anyone other than Combs. 'I knew he had something to do with it,' Mescudi said, leading Combs' lawyers to object. Jurors were told to disregard the remark. 0:59 Diddy's ex-assistant Capricorn Clark says rapper kidnapped her during plot to kill Kid Cudi Mescudi told jurors he met with Combs the next day at a Los Angeles hotel to try to smooth things over. Story continues below advertisement 'After the fire, I said, 'This is getting out of hand. I need to talk to him,'' Mescudi said. At the end of the meeting, as they stood and shook hands, Mescudi said he asked Combs: 'What are we going to do about my car?' Mescudi said Combs gave him a 'very cold stare' and responded, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' Mescudi said he thought 'he was lying' but let it go, and there were no more episodes at his house. A few years later, Combs apologized 'for everything' when they ran into each other at a hotel, Mescudi testified. Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest. He faced federal charges of coercing girlfriends into having drug-fuelled sex marathons with male sex workers while he watched and filmed them. He was acquitted last month of the top charges — racketeering and sex trafficking — and was convicted of two counts of a prostitution-related offence. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 3. — With files from The Associated Press
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Why Tom Harrington teaches hikers to stop and smell the wildflowers
It's wildflower season in the Great Smoky Mountains, and beneath the long morning shadows at Chestnut Tops Trail near Townsend, Tennessee, Tom Harrington is in his element. We've barely reached the trailhead sign before Harrington, a hiking and 'wildflowering' aficionado and park volunteer of 25 years, pauses to point out the colonies of purple flowers painting the path - purple phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida), a native wildflower whose nectar is said to make some of the best honey around. We stop, admire, take photos ... and just a few steps later, stop again. This time, it's to inspect a delicate white spray of foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), which is nestled near a cluster of arcing green stems hung with white blooms, Solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum), whose flowers grow in evenly spaced pairs below the stem, and false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum), whose bloom erupts in a cluster at the end. Nearby grows a collection of yellow trillium (Trillium luteum), curved petals rising like pieces of modern art. When the sun hits them, Harrington says, they'll emit a lemony scent. 'I had a friend who used to hike with me, and he'd get very upset because I'd stop and smell the fragrance and make photos,' Harrington said. 'He had a schedule. I said, 'You don't want to hike with me when the wildflowers are out.'' In the Smokies, wildflowers are out for most of the year. Harrington, 85, has found blooms as early as mid-February and, in mild years, as late as Thanksgiving. He records these observations in a wildflower journal he's kept since 1986. A couple years after he became a Volunteer-in-Park at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2000, Harrington's supervisor asked if he'd be willing to share his observations with others. Ever since, Harrington has been sending his wildflower reports to Smokies staff as well as to about 70 other wildflower enthusiasts who sign up to receive them. He hits the trail at least once a week to record what he sees, doubling that frequency during the height of wildflower season in April and May. A U.S. Army veteran and retired insurance agent, Harrington is no professional botanist, nor is he a lifelong hiker. Growing up in Knoxville, he always loved the mountains. But it wasn't until April 1982, when Harrington was 42 years old, that he got hooked on hiking - and on the pastime he refers to as wildflowering. 'Some friends invited me to go hiking with them after church on Sunday, and we did about two and a half miles on the Cooper Road Trail,' he recalled. 'And it was just like fireworks went off, sirens rang. I was bitten.' At the time, Harrington's hiking experience had been mostly limited to some excursions with the Boy Scouts and a private boys' camp in Elkmont he'd attended during the summers he was 7, 8 and 9. He remembers hiking all the way up to Mount LeConte and camping at Alum Cave Bluffs, but 'it didn't make any particular impression.' In the years that followed, picnic areas, not trailheads, were the typical destination when he ventured into the mountains. 'I could kick myself from here to Hollywood for waiting 'til that old to start hiking,' he said. But he made up for lost time, frequently ticking off 15 to 18 miles in a single day after that life-changing Sunday on Cooper Road Trail. These days, he typically limits his hikes to 'only' five miles or so, though occasionally he'll double that to 10. While he walks, he wildflowers, a verb that Harrington defines as 'searching for, finding, and enjoying wildflowers.' It's a journey of constant learning, because more than 1,500 species of blooming plants can be found in the park's 816 square miles. We saw more than two dozen of the 105 species Harrington claims to be able to identify with confidence, though he's certainly familiar with a greater number than that. The park contains more than 30 species of violets, for example, which are often notoriously difficult to tell apart. But Harrington doesn't let difficulties with identification get in the way of appreciating the beauty before him. 'When I think of all the beauty that's out here for us to enjoy, and I know that the Lord put it here for us to enjoy, you can feel closeness with him,' Harrington said. 'When you experience a beautiful sunset or a beautiful rosebud orchid in bloom, or you come up this trail in the height of the fall foliage, it's just incredible. You just can't believe what you're seeing.' Harrington has devoted his retirement to extending that sense of wonder to as many people as possible. Throughout the year, he spends his Saturdays at Cades Cove, engaging with visitors at the orientation shelter, and from March through November he's there Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. 'I start out at the orientation shelter, and then I go down to the Primitive Baptist Church and I do history programs at 11, noon, and 1,' he said. 'And then after that, I either go to the Abrams Falls Trailhead or back to the orientation shelter.' It's not unusual for Harrington to meet some of the people he's helped at Cades Cove while he's hiking elsewhere in the park. Once, as he descended Alum Cave Trail following a hike to Mount Le Conte, he encountered a Miami couple that had attended one of his programs. Harrington's goal for that program had been to encourage more visitors to leave their cars and experience the Smokies from the trail. 'They said, 'We wanted you to know we took your advice,'' Harrington said. 'And that really made me thrilled that they would get to have an experience like I have.' On the trail, Harrington is an unwitting celebrity. We've barely started our hike when a pair of female hikers stops to strike up a conversation with Harrington as he bends over the Solomon's seal. 'Hey, how are you?' he said, greeting the two strangers like old friends. 'I hope you're having a wonderful day.' He explains how to tell the difference between this plant and its somewhat disparagingly named but objectively beautiful relative in the lily family, false Solomon's seal. The women look on attentively, keeping Harrington's slow wildflowering pace for several turns of the trail before hiking on. 'People like that are just a wealth to me,' one of the hikers said as she left. Minutes later, another group walks past us. They recognize Harrington, stopping to tell him about a rare plant they've spotted growing farther up the trail. 'It's about another hundred yards,' one of the men says. 'I'll wait there for you.' Walking with Harrington, it's hard to tell which hikers are acquaintances and which are strangers, because he greets everyone with sincere conviviality. Several of the hikers, he tells me, are familiar faces on the trail. But Harrington has never before met many of the visitors whom he greets with a sincere wish to enjoy their hike or have a wonderful day. Perhaps the park volunteer uniform he's wearing - brown pants and khaki shirt bearing an official Volunteer-In-Park patch - is responsible for spurring these warm interactions, Harrington posits. But I wonder if another explanation might also be at play. Harrington's joy in time spent outdoors and his desire to share it with others are downright magnetic. 'It's such a wonderful experience to get out into nature,' he said. 'I think we can come more to terms with ourselves and our place in life if we experience it as much as possible.'View Harrington's wildflower reports at or email t3hiker@ to receive them directly. To get started with wildflower identification, purchase Wildflowers of the Smokies in park stores or at Holly Kays is the lead writer for the 29,000-member Smokies Life, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the scientific, historical, and interpretive activities of Great Smoky Mountains National Park by providing educational products and services such as this column. Learn more at or reach the author at hollyk@ This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Tom Harrington became a Great Smoky Mountains wildflower watcher
