Diddy made a surprising appearance in a New York courtroom by debuting his new white hair and beard while rejecting a new set of accusations against him.
The former hip-hop tycoon had decided to embrace his natural hair color, foregoing any dye, just a little over a month before his trial.
His change in appearance was quite striking, as he seemed to have aged and gained some weight when he arrived at the federal court in Manhattan for his pretrial hearing, dressed in tan prison attire.
Diddy said ‘not guilty’ when the judge read out the updated indictment which included claims of ‘forced labor’.
But he was all smiles in court and waved to his son Christian ‘King’ and daughter Chance Combs.
Diddy stood up as he was arraigned on the new charges by Judge Arun Subramanian who asked him if he had seen the updated indictment.
‘Yes I have, sir’, Diddy replied in a clear voice.
When the judge asked Diddy if he would like the indictment read out, Diddy declined and said: ‘I’m fine. I waive the public reading’.
Diddy shocked a New York courtroom after dramatically changing his appearance with his new white hair and white beard as he denied an updated set of allegations against him
The disgraced hip hop mogul had apparently stopped coloring his hair and let his natural color come through with just over a month to go until his trialÂ
Diddy’s son Christian ‘King’ and daughter Chance Combs were spotted walking into their father’s pretrial hearing at the Southern District of New York Federal Court on Friday
During the hearing Diddy sat at a table with his lawyers listening intently and occasionally nodding his head.
His lawyer Marc Agnifilo said that a chilling CNN video of Diddy beating then girlfriend Cassie Ventura at a hotel was ‘deceptive’ and ‘not in accordance with the actions that took place’.
He said that the video was sped up ’50 percent or quicker’ and ‘took things out of sequence’.
On the CNN video, the time stamp was covered up ‘intentionally or not intentionally, I’m not here to say’, Agnifilo said.
He accused CNN of deleting the footage it got from its source so there was no information about where it was created.
‘It’s a misleading piece of evidence’, Agnifilo said.
Judge Subramanian ordered the prosecution to provide a list of remaining witnesses to Diddy’s lawyers by the end of next week.
She said that the names would be released on an attorneys’ eyes only basis.
Diddy was all smiles in court and waved to his son Christian ‘King’ and daughter Chance Combs. His mother Janice arrived late to the hearing
Diddy’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo said the CNN video of Diddy assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura was ‘deceptive’ and ‘not in accordance with the actions that took place’Â
He said that the video was sped up ’50 percent or quicker’ and ‘took things out of sequence’Â
At the end of the hearing Diddy waved to his mother Janice, who arrived late to the courtroom, and tapped his chest. Janice, who was in the public gallery, blew a kiss back at him, and he blew one back.
The 55-year-old, whose real name is Sean Combs, is accused of running a decade-long criminal empire including orgies called ‘Freak Offs’.
Women participants were allegedly drugged and forced into marathon sex sessions, sometimes with male prostitutes.
Diddy has denied racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He is due to go on trial on May 5 and until then he is being held at the grim Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The updated indictment was filed earlier this month and added the ‘forced labor’ claims under the racketeering charges.
The document says that Diddy and his associates ‘maintained control’ over some staff by not paying them and forcing them to work ‘long hours with little sleep’.
The indictment states that Combs ’caused these employees to believe they would be harmed – including by losing their jobs – if they did not comply with his demands’.
At the end of the hearing Diddy waved at his mother Janice and tapped his chest. Janice, who was in the public gallery, blew a kiss back at him, and he blew one backÂ
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ daughters, Jessie and D’Lila Combs, are trying to keep their lives as normal as possible while their father remains behind bars, cheering on their high school’s basketball team
It states: ‘With respect to one employee, Combs used physical force, psychological harm, financial harm and reputational harm, and/or threats of the same to cause the employee to engage in sex acts with Combs’.
Diddy was arrested in September last year, four months after his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against him alleging similar conduct to his criminal case.
While the lawsuit was settled the next day, Diddy’s reputation was shattered soon after when CNN obtained a chilling video of him allegedly beating Ventura in 2016 at a hotel.
The footage showed him repeatedly hitting and kicking her in a corridor while wearing a towel.
The hearing is expected to deal with claims by Diddy’s lawyers that the footage was ‘substantially altered in significant respects’.
They claimed that a forensic analysis showed it could have been sped up and that would be grounds for it to be excluded from the trial.
In court papers, Diddy’s attorneys said: ‘CNN purchased the only known copy of the hotel’s surveillance footage, uploaded that footage into a free editing software, altered the video; and then destroyed the original footage’.
CNN has denied doctoring the clip and said in a statement that it ‘never altered the video’.
CNN has denied doctoring the clip and said in a statement that it ‘never altered the video’
Jane Doe claimed in a since-dropped lawsuit that she was raped by Jay-Z and Diddy after the 2000 VMAs in New York City. Jay-Z, who strongly denied the claims, is now suing her and her lawyers for defamation
The TV network said it did not destroy the original of the video and said that was ‘retained by the source’.
Diddy himself has addressed the video, saying in a post on Instagram shortly after it was aired that ‘my behavior on that video is inexcusable’.
‘I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,’ he said. ‘I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, (and) I’m disgusted now’.
Among those criticizing Diddy for trying to exclude the CNN video from the case is Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor.
In a statement he said: ‘It is not surprising that Combs would make a disingenuous argument to exclude the disturbing video from being shown to the jury in the upcoming trial.
‘I am confident that the video fairly and accurately represents what happened, will be admitted into evidence, and that Combs will be held accountable for his depravity’.
Diddy has been hit with dozens of civil lawsuits which allege similar claims – all of which he denied.
Among them is a woman who claims that Diddy and Jay-Z raped her in 2000 at an after party for the VMA awards party.
The woman, who is now 38, alleged that Jay-Z put his hand over her mouth and told her to ‘cut the s***’ before overpowering her.
In an interview with NBC, the woman admitted inconsistencies with her memory but stood by her account.
Weeks later the woman dropped her claim against Jay-Z, who strongly denied the claims and is now suing her and her lawyers for defamation.
