In September 2023, crowds packed Times Square, cheering, and taking pictures as Sean “Diddy” Combs received the key to the city, an honour bestowed on him by the New York City mayor who called Combs the “bad boy of entertainment”.
Less than two years later and just three miles down the road, people were now queueing around the block to secure a spot to see him inside the courtroom to face charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation for prostitution.
The fall from grace of this music mogul has been sharp and shocking.
Read more: Combs forced women into ‘freak offs’, jurors told
Mayor Eric Adams, left, presenting the Key to the City to hip-hop artist Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in New York’s Times Square in September 2023. Pic: Office of the New York Mayor/Caroline Rubinstein-Willis via AP
The contrast of the image of him that day, holding a giant gold plated key aloft, his sleek black hair neatly groomed and wearing expensive jewellery with the man sitting at the defence table is stark.
After spending seven months imprisoned at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, Combs’s hair is now fully grey, his beard overgrown.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’s mother Janice Combs, centre, was among those who attended court. Pic: AP
His mother Janice arrived at the court in a black SUV. I asked her how her son was feeling ahead of the first day of evidence in this case but she remained stony faced.
Combs’s sons Justin and King and his 17-year-old twin daughters, D’Lila Star and Jessie James, followed behind in a large people carrier van with other family members.
Sean Diddy Combs, centre, motions a heart gesture to his family. Pic: AP
When Combs was escorted into the courtroom he waved and blew a kiss to his family, who were seated in the second row of the public gallery.
They may never again see him as a free man, with the most serious charges against him carrying a possible life prison sentence.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’s son King Combs, centre, was among those who attended court. Pic: AP
Combs, who was wearing a cream jumper, grey trousers and dark-rimmed glasses embraced members of his defence team when he arrived. He listened intently as the prosecution painted a picture of a violent monster, sometimes taking notes.
Combs used his business empire and considerable power, the government said, to force women into sex, to beat them and then to cover it up.
There were gasps from the public gallery in the overflow courtroom as prosecutor Emily Johnson delivered the opening statement, especially as she mentioned disturbing detail about Combs’s alleged drug-fuelled sex parties, which he called “freak offs”.
Read more:
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
Diddy – a timeline of allegations
Everything you need to know about the trial
Sean “Diddy” Combs’s son Justin Combs, centre. Pic: AP
The prosecution’s star witness will be Cassie Ventura. The pop star was in a relationship with Combs for eleven years.
Her husband Alex Fine was in court as the trial began in earnest and Cassie is expected to begin giving evidence on Tuesday morning.
She is heavily pregnant and may choose to make a low profile entrance into the courthouse, avoiding the scrum of national and international media outside.
Even before the first day concluded, people were already queuing for a seat in the public gallery tomorrow. Those at the front of the line are being paid (between $25 to $40 an hour) to hold a spot for others.
These “professional line sitters” will be here outside the courthouse overnight when it is expected to rain. P Diddy is used to being the hottest ticket in town but he presumably never imagined it would be in these circumstances. He denies all the charges against him.
