May 23, 2025 • 7 mins
Ethan gives us the scoop on Diddy's trial. He was in the courtroom yesterday when Kid Cudi got up and testified about Diddy. There are major charges against Sean Combs him which could put him in more jeopardy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And also the p Diddy trial continued, and from all reports,
yesterday was an explosive day. Let's get right to Ethan Shanfeld,
who was a reporter for Variety. Ethan, good morning to you,
Good morning, how are you. I'm doing well? I heard
I know you were in the court room yesterday. Tell
(00:20):
us what happened.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, yesterday was a big day.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We had quite a few people testify against Sean Combs,
one of them being Scott Mascutti, who's otherwise known as
Kid Cutty, the rapper who might end up being the
most famous person to testify in court. But Kid Cutty
talked about an incident going back to twenty eleven in
which there was a break in in his house and
(00:46):
then a few weeks later his car exploded.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
And those incidents.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Were never officially traced back to Seawan Combs, but there's
reason to believe that he had something to do with it,
given Kid Cutty's romantic involvement with Cassie, who was dating
Ditty for eleven years.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah. We always hear about the of course, at the
beginning of the trial, and we always hear about the
prosecution witnesses and what they had to say for the prosecution.
Were they at all successful, Did they get a chance
to cross examine? Were they successful at all in breaking
down some of his testimony.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
With Kid Cutty specifically, I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You know, the events that he could really testify about
are quite limited compared to the scale of this case.
But I will say one of the more interesting people
to testify was actually before Kid Cutty, which was a
guy named George Kaplan who was Ditty's personal assistant for
a couple of years. And it was interesting during the
(01:51):
cross examination because you could tell that George still had
quite a bit of respect for Ditty and wouldn't really
speak too poorly about him, even though he said he
had witnessed alleged incidents where, you know, it really shook
him to his core.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
You could tell he still kind of liked him.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
It is interesting, and we've been bringing this up throughout
the trial. Entire trial. There are a lot of really
explosive things that have been said by Cassie, by Kid Cuddy,
by the assistant that you're talking about, and they talk
about despicable behavior or domestic abuse in Cassie's case, but
(02:33):
they have to tie that together to fit the federal charges.
Have they been able to were they able to yesterday?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
You're absolutely right, And I think the thing that people
keep talking about in the courtroom is.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We've still got six weeks to go at least, and.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So the focus of the trial for the first couple
of weeks has largely been on Cassie. She is the
star witness of this case. She testified for four days
about the alleged abuse that she suffered. And you know,
there's a very clear case here for domestic violence and
(03:10):
perhaps even sexual abuse, but you know, they're gonna have
to zoom out quite a bit and bring in other
alleged victims. And because he's charged with sex trafficking and racketeering,
which are much bigger charges. And I think that if
this case was maybe a state case where they were
(03:31):
just getting him on domestic violence, it would be a
no brainer. But this is going to be a little
more difficult to sort of draw out that constellation.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I understand that it's early in the case, but we've
had several high profile defense attorneys on the air here
saying they don't think the case is going to hold.
That they believe he did. He's going to walk, and
it's exactly because of what we're talking about. They have
all this evidence, they have some horrible things that will
shock the Jewel Sorry, but they have to make it
(04:01):
look like a criminal organization and that they were actually
trafficking people. And you can tell me you've been in
the courtroom every day. Have they even started to talk
about any of that.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
A little bit?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I mean, I think that the prosecution is pretty smart
and that they have a plan for introducing these things.
You know, one of the factors of racketeering, for example,
is arson, and that's where you bring in kid Cutty
to talk about this car explosion.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And you have.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Other factors like kidnapping and forced labor. They've asked a
lot of the former assistants, you know, what would happen
if you went to bed? They talked about some of
these people talked about working for twenty one days straight
with twenty hour days. And so when you start getting
these people to walk into was their forced labor? Would
(04:54):
you lose your job if you said, you know, I
haven't slept in forty eight hours.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I need to get some rest. So I think that
they're drawing out these pieces.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And in respect to the sex trafficking, one of the
things that I'd like to see more from the prosecution
is you really need to hammered down on whether the
sexual activity was coercion or not. That is a major
factor in the sex trafficking. And I think that it's
tough with Cassie because there's just so much evidence that
(05:25):
they've introduced where she talks about, you know, wanting to
do these freaked offs, which were these drug bent you know,
drug and sex binges with with Ditty, and you know,
there's also this aspect of violence when she tried to
exit that hotel room, like in the video that we've
all seen, he came out and.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
He beat her up.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So they really need to draw out the fact that
when she didn't participate in these sexual activities or when
she tried to leave, she was met with violence.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
How about the hell's the jury doing? Are they still engaged?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It seems like it.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yes, it's interesting to see how did he sort of
peers over at them, and he definitely looks at them
a lot and tries to.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, gauge their reaction to certain things.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But at least from my vantage point, they don't really
give him much. You know, they seem to be engaged
and listening intently.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And how is did he Some people have been reporting
that he seems to be playing a big part in
his own defense.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, that's interesting. I mean he's kept pretty quiet.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
One of the things that was interesting to me yesterday
with George Kaplan, the former assistant, was George was praising
him quite a bit when his defense attorneys were asking
about the lessons that he learned while he was an
employee of Ditty's, and George was was sort of talking
about how did he taught him lessons in business that
(07:01):
he carries with him, you know, until today, and that
he really respected his you know, business acumen and his
work ethic. And Diddy was sitting there just nodding along,
and you could tell that he was enjoying the praise.
And then when George left the witness stand, you could
tell he gave Diddy like a subtle nod and it
(07:24):
seemed to me like he was enjoying that testimony.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, he's thinking, if this guy gets off, I don't
want to be on his bedside. I'm sure that was
part of it as well. Real quick, what is coming
up today.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Today? There's no court Oh, there you go.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Nothing, Nothing is the answer. Oh, that's great. It's good
for you as well. Thanks so much. That was really interesting.
I appreciate it. Eth hold on for one second, Ethan Sandfeld,
Thank you so much. From Variety Magazine, appreciate your tank,
Ethan Shanfield
And also the p Diddy trial continued, and from all reports,
yesterday was an explosive day. Let's get right to Ethan Shanfeld,
who was a reporter for Variety. Ethan, good morning to you,
Good morning, how are you. I'm doing well? I heard
I know you were in the court room yesterday. Tell
(00:20):
us what happened.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, yesterday was a big day.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We had quite a few people testify against Sean Combs,
one of them being Scott Mascutti, who's otherwise known as
Kid Cutty, the rapper who might end up being the
most famous person to testify in court. But Kid Cutty
talked about an incident going back to twenty eleven in
which there was a break in in his house and
(00:46):
then a few weeks later his car exploded.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
And those incidents.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Were never officially traced back to Seawan Combs, but there's
reason to believe that he had something to do with it,
given Kid Cutty's romantic involvement with Cassie, who was dating
Ditty for eleven years.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah. We always hear about the of course, at the
beginning of the trial, and we always hear about the
prosecution witnesses and what they had to say for the prosecution.
Were they at all successful, Did they get a chance
to cross examine? Were they successful at all in breaking
down some of his testimony.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
With Kid Cutty specifically, I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You know, the events that he could really testify about
are quite limited compared to the scale of this case.
But I will say one of the more interesting people
to testify was actually before Kid Cutty, which was a
guy named George Kaplan who was Ditty's personal assistant for
a couple of years. And it was interesting during the
(01:51):
cross examination because you could tell that George still had
quite a bit of respect for Ditty and wouldn't really
speak too poorly about him, even though he said he
had witnessed alleged incidents where, you know, it really shook
him to his core.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
You could tell he still kind of liked him.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
It is interesting, and we've been bringing this up throughout
the trial. Entire trial. There are a lot of really
explosive things that have been said by Cassie, by Kid Cuddy,
by the assistant that you're talking about, and they talk
about despicable behavior or domestic abuse in Cassie's case, but
(02:33):
they have to tie that together to fit the federal charges.
Have they been able to were they able to yesterday?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
You're absolutely right, And I think the thing that people
keep talking about in the courtroom is.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We've still got six weeks to go at least, and.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So the focus of the trial for the first couple
of weeks has largely been on Cassie. She is the
star witness of this case. She testified for four days
about the alleged abuse that she suffered. And you know,
there's a very clear case here for domestic violence and
(03:10):
perhaps even sexual abuse, but you know, they're gonna have
to zoom out quite a bit and bring in other
alleged victims. And because he's charged with sex trafficking and racketeering,
which are much bigger charges. And I think that if
this case was maybe a state case where they were
(03:31):
just getting him on domestic violence, it would be a
no brainer. But this is going to be a little
more difficult to sort of draw out that constellation.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I understand that it's early in the case, but we've
had several high profile defense attorneys on the air here
saying they don't think the case is going to hold.
That they believe he did. He's going to walk, and
it's exactly because of what we're talking about. They have
all this evidence, they have some horrible things that will
shock the Jewel Sorry, but they have to make it
(04:01):
look like a criminal organization and that they were actually
trafficking people. And you can tell me you've been in
the courtroom every day. Have they even started to talk
about any of that.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
A little bit?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I mean, I think that the prosecution is pretty smart
and that they have a plan for introducing these things.
You know, one of the factors of racketeering, for example,
is arson, and that's where you bring in kid Cutty
to talk about this car explosion.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And you have.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Other factors like kidnapping and forced labor. They've asked a
lot of the former assistants, you know, what would happen
if you went to bed? They talked about some of
these people talked about working for twenty one days straight
with twenty hour days. And so when you start getting
these people to walk into was their forced labor? Would
(04:54):
you lose your job if you said, you know, I
haven't slept in forty eight hours.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I need to get some rest. So I think that
they're drawing out these pieces.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And in respect to the sex trafficking, one of the
things that I'd like to see more from the prosecution
is you really need to hammered down on whether the
sexual activity was coercion or not. That is a major
factor in the sex trafficking. And I think that it's
tough with Cassie because there's just so much evidence that
(05:25):
they've introduced where she talks about, you know, wanting to
do these freaked offs, which were these drug bent you know,
drug and sex binges with with Ditty, and you know,
there's also this aspect of violence when she tried to
exit that hotel room, like in the video that we've
all seen, he came out and.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
He beat her up.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So they really need to draw out the fact that
when she didn't participate in these sexual activities or when
she tried to leave, she was met with violence.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
How about the hell's the jury doing? Are they still engaged?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It seems like it.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yes, it's interesting to see how did he sort of
peers over at them, and he definitely looks at them
a lot and tries to.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, gauge their reaction to certain things.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But at least from my vantage point, they don't really
give him much. You know, they seem to be engaged
and listening intently.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And how is did he Some people have been reporting
that he seems to be playing a big part in
his own defense.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, that's interesting. I mean he's kept pretty quiet.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
One of the things that was interesting to me yesterday
with George Kaplan, the former assistant, was George was praising
him quite a bit when his defense attorneys were asking
about the lessons that he learned while he was an
employee of Ditty's, and George was was sort of talking
about how did he taught him lessons in business that
(07:01):
he carries with him, you know, until today, and that
he really respected his you know, business acumen and his
work ethic. And Diddy was sitting there just nodding along,
and you could tell that he was enjoying the praise.
And then when George left the witness stand, you could
tell he gave Diddy like a subtle nod and it
(07:24):
seemed to me like he was enjoying that testimony.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, he's thinking, if this guy gets off, I don't
want to be on his bedside. I'm sure that was
part of it as well. Real quick, what is coming
up today.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Today? There's no court Oh, there you go.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Nothing, Nothing is the answer. Oh, that's great. It's good
for you as well. Thanks so much. That was really interesting.
I appreciate it. Eth hold on for one second, Ethan Sandfeld,
Thank you so much. From Variety Magazine, appreciate your tank,
Ethan Shanfield
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