Speaker 1: I'm a homegrow that knows a little bit about everything
Speaker 1: and everybody.
Speaker 2: You don't know if you don't lie about that.
Speaker 1: Right, Hey, y'all, what's up. It's Lauren de Rosa and
Speaker 1: this is another episode of the Latest with Lauren Rosa.
Speaker 1: This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news,
Speaker 1: and all of the conversations that shake the room. Now
Speaker 1: we're gonna get right on into the Latest. We won't
Speaker 1: do it behind the scenes of the grind check in today.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess we should because we did just
Speaker 1: get a feature in Forbes, So we're gonna check it
Speaker 1: behind the scenes to.
Speaker 2: The grind world real quick.
Speaker 1: If you guys did not catch any of my social
Speaker 1: media postings, I'm Laura l Rosa everywhere, especially on Instagram.
Speaker 1: I posted an article from Forbes that you guys should
Speaker 1: go check out. Shout out to Jasmine Brawley, who was
Speaker 1: the journalist that interviewed me for Forbes, and we talked
Speaker 1: about radio and you know, the conversation that a lot
Speaker 1: of people like to have, especially with me because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm new to radio, but radio has done so much
Speaker 1: for me over this last year two years with the
Speaker 1: Breakfast Club about radio and is it a dying industry
Speaker 1: or not. So we did the interview there and we
Speaker 1: talked a lot about, you know, just what my process
Speaker 1: is and you know how you know, from the Breakfast
Speaker 1: Club to the latest with laying the rods of the
Speaker 1: podcast and the partnership with Black Effect Podcast Network, how
Speaker 1: we figure out like what content fits wear and honestly
Speaker 1: just how radio has helped me amplify all the things
Speaker 1: that I'm doing. So please, if you have not already
Speaker 1: go and checked that out. Just google Lauren the Rows
Speaker 1: of Forbes. It's also, you know, I posted some of
Speaker 1: the quotes on my Instagram. I'll have the link on
Speaker 1: my bidio by the time this goes live.
Speaker 2: Go check it out.
Speaker 1: It so also on my Twitter and my Facebook to
Speaker 1: us everywhere if you haven't seen it. So I'm feeling
Speaker 1: good about that. But you know, with notoriety comes more responsibility.
Speaker 1: I feel like every time there's an article published about me,
Speaker 1: what I do, how I report, you know how I
Speaker 1: like to fact check as much as I can and
Speaker 1: you know, get some clarity and get at bottom of things.
Speaker 1: More responsibility it is to do that, And I know
Speaker 1: I always say no one can be perfect, but I
Speaker 1: am striving for it because with every article comes more eyes.
Speaker 1: So here we are the latest with Lanna Rosa. Let's
Speaker 1: get right on into the topics. So up first in
Speaker 1: the latest Diddy we've been you know, preparing. We are
Speaker 1: literally less than five days away from October third, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, which is the day that Sean Ditty Combs
Speaker 1: will be sentenced here in New York City. Now here's
Speaker 1: the thing about this sentencing. Diddy's team has been asking
Speaker 1: for a very long time for charges to be acquitted
Speaker 1: for What they're basically saying is that either Diddy should
Speaker 1: be allowed to go home and walk free of all charges.
Speaker 1: There's two counts of the prostitution or the traveling in
Speaker 1: with the intent to engage in prostitution. So either all
Speaker 1: of the charges should be dropped, one of the charges
Speaker 1: or some of the things, or Diddy should be given
Speaker 1: a new trial. So as far as bond, and we've
Speaker 1: reported it here several times, the judge has not ever
Speaker 1: sided with the fact that he believes that Diddy is
Speaker 1: not a danger to the community enough makes the best
Speaker 1: decisions and it's just a law abiding citizen enough to
Speaker 1: even be trusted to be let out on bond.
Speaker 2: Now, that's pretty telling.
Speaker 1: And I've said here too that the way that the
Speaker 1: judge rules on this acquittal can tell you a lot
Speaker 1: about what Diddy might.
Speaker 2: Be looking at when it comes to what his sentence
Speaker 2: may be.
Speaker 1: As of right now, for the two counts of the
Speaker 1: Men Act, which Diddy was found guilty on transporting mail
Speaker 1: prostitutes across state lines, Diddy is looking at up to
Speaker 1: twenty years behind bars, ten years per charge, right, twenty
Speaker 1: years total. Diddy has been asking this, the judge has
Speaker 1: yet to decide it. The last time we were in court,
Speaker 1: which was only a few days ago, we still have
Speaker 1: not heard anything back. And I reached out trying to
Speaker 1: get a better understanding from people close to the court
Speaker 1: who would know when are we going to hear from
Speaker 1: the judge? Like what does it mean that this acquittal
Speaker 1: conversation has not fully been answered? And we're what like
Speaker 1: two maybe three days away from the sentencing, three nights
Speaker 1: for nights and a wake up, And from what I
Speaker 1: was told, it doesn't mean anything the acquittal conversation and
Speaker 1: whether the judge rules to do that not do it
Speaker 1: allow a retrial or not allow retrial? That could come
Speaker 1: after the sentencing, so that's not even something that they're
Speaker 1: holding out the hope for now. Where they're focused on
Speaker 1: is trying to get a sentence that leans in Ditty's favor.
Speaker 1: But prosecutors say they want him to do eleven years
Speaker 1: in some months and also pay a five hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars fine two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per count.
Speaker 1: And boy, is Diddy Up against a lot because the
Speaker 1: main thing that is cited here in the documents filed
Speaker 1: by the government is what the judge kind of not
Speaker 1: even kind of. I was in the courtroom, and the
Speaker 1: judge specifically pointed to the fact that leading up to
Speaker 1: Diddy's arrest, like I mean, the week leading into the
Speaker 1: day that the FEDS picked Diddy up off of the street,
Speaker 1: Diddy was still engaged in a lot of the acts
Speaker 1: that led a jury to find him guilty of the
Speaker 1: two men acts that he's facing right now, and a
Speaker 1: lot of the acts that led a judge to believe
Speaker 1: he shouldn't be out on bail, if even just awaiting trial.
Speaker 1: And when I talk about these acts, I'm talking talking
Speaker 1: about from what the judge has said, they deemed Diddy dangerous,
Speaker 1: not just because of the Cassie video and seeing him
Speaker 1: stumper out in that video, but in this document, the
Speaker 1: sentencing document that the government has submitted. It is over
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty pages. Try to read as much
Speaker 1: as I could before I came in here, so we
Speaker 1: will be doing an update, and I owe you guys
Speaker 1: like a thorough breakdown of all of this before we
Speaker 1: go into sentencing, because I want you guys to be
Speaker 1: as in the know as you can so that our
Speaker 1: sentencing conversation is a lot easier.
Speaker 2: But everything that I.
Speaker 1: Read points to did he making decisions knowing that he
Speaker 1: was under federal and investigation. The prosecutors are heavily pointing
Speaker 1: to that, and that only makes sense strategy wise. That's
Speaker 1: smart for them because they already know the judge believes that.
Speaker 1: And if you're leaning on that and the judge already
Speaker 1: believes that, you can almost assume the judge is going
Speaker 1: to rule in the favor where he's been having conversation
Speaker 1: up until this point, which is you can't operate as
Speaker 1: a as a man in the community making good decisions.
Speaker 1: We gave you that chance. You were a waiting to
Speaker 1: come here for trial, and these are other things that happen.
Speaker 1: They specifically point out. So after the Cassie beating video
Speaker 1: broke v CNN back in Man twenty twenty four, did
Speaker 1: he got online. He posted some statements and in the
Speaker 1: statements in the video, he said this.
Speaker 3: It's so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in
Speaker 3: your life. Sometimes you gotta do that. I was duck.
Speaker 3: I mean, I hit rock bottom, but I made no excuses.
Speaker 3: My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full
Speaker 3: responsibility for my actions in that video. I'm disgusted. I
Speaker 3: was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusting now
Speaker 3: when and I sought our professional help and to go
Speaker 3: into therapy. I'm going to rehab. Had asked God for
Speaker 3: his mercy and grace. I'm so sorry, but I'm committed
Speaker 3: to be a better man easin every day. I'm not
Speaker 3: asking for forgiveness. I'm truly sorry.
Speaker 1: Now they call this ironic because they're like, you said
Speaker 1: you were a better man, that you would talk to God,
Speaker 1: and you've been doing the work, only to find out
Speaker 1: some months later you get into it with Jane, and
Speaker 1: I will say in court. Jane said on the stand
Speaker 1: herself that she did physically put her hands on Diddy first,
Speaker 1: But the prosecutors point back to, you know, him getting
Speaker 1: into it physically with Jane, which led to him putting
Speaker 1: his hands on her. Not the same way as Cassie.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's the same instances domestic violence either way.
Speaker 1: But this was different, and Diddy Seam points out this
Speaker 1: was different because he was hit first.
Speaker 2: In this circumstance.
Speaker 1: But prosecutors pointed out he busted down five doors trying
Speaker 1: to get to her throughout this, you know what they
Speaker 1: call an attack?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: How is he upstanding citizen? How can we trust that
Speaker 1: he will come home and do all the things he
Speaker 1: needs to do and really understand that you're not bigger
Speaker 1: than the program, because he was waiting to come and
Speaker 1: see you, judge, and he couldn't even understand that did
Speaker 1: He has really gotten himself into some trouble. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people keep having conversations about what
Speaker 1: does and does not pertain to these charges in the
Speaker 1: cases that the prosecutors are submitting in the same sentencing
Speaker 1: conversation to show that there are people who have been
Speaker 1: placed behind bars for ten plus years for these same charges,
Speaker 1: what they're leaning on is that it's not just simply
Speaker 1: prostitution on his face. It's the use of hower, the
Speaker 1: use of previously applied force that scares these victims, as
Speaker 1: the prosecution alleges they are, scares them into having to
Speaker 1: do whatever is placed before them. And because of this,
Speaker 1: we cannot trust that this man talking about Ditty will
Speaker 1: not come home and fill himself again and feel his power.
Speaker 1: How do we know that it's been only but so
Speaker 1: much time now. In addition to all of this, there
Speaker 1: are a ton of letters that have been submitted with
Speaker 1: these filings from people involved in the case, people who've
Speaker 1: testified in the case. It's like the opposite of a
Speaker 1: character statement. So these statements are speaking to why people
Speaker 1: would be scared to tell if Diddy.
Speaker 2: Is able to come home in any short amount of time.
Speaker 1: So you have Deontay Nash, who is a stylist friend
Speaker 1: of Ditty's, who was styling Cassie.
Speaker 2: Who submitted a letter.
Speaker 1: He also recently filed a lawsuit against Ditty an alleged
Speaker 1: sexual claims, and you.
Speaker 2: Know various things.
Speaker 1: You also have Cassie who submitted a letter which again,
Speaker 1: if you was their star witness while on the stand
Speaker 1: and majority of the decision making from the judge has
Speaker 1: been based around Cassie and the incident that occurred there
Speaker 1: and what Diddy applying fear looks like in this situation
Speaker 1: and Cassie's example of that. But she says she is
Speaker 1: still having nightmares about Diddy and urges that they lot
Speaker 1: come up and throw away the key. So she says,
Speaker 1: dear Judge Soubranean, I have been in a cycle of
Speaker 1: thought and then over thought writing this letter to you.
Speaker 1: If there's one thing I have learned from this experience,
Speaker 1: it is that victims and survivals will never be safe.
Speaker 1: Although I can hope for justice and accountability, I've come
Speaker 1: to not trusting anything. I hope that your decision considers
Speaker 1: the truth at hand that the jury fell to see.
Speaker 1: For four days in May, while nine months pregnant with
Speaker 1: my son, I testified in front of a packed courtroom
Speaker 1: in the most traumatic, horrifying chapter of my life. I
Speaker 1: testified that from age nineteen, Sean Combs used violence, threats, substances,
Speaker 1: and control over my career to trap me, and over
Speaker 1: decade of abuse, he groomed me into performing repeated sex
Speaker 1: acts with hired male sex workers. During multi day freak alls,
Speaker 1: which occurred nearly every week, I was forced into laingerie
Speaker 1: and heels, told exactly how to look, implied with drugs
Speaker 1: and alcohol so he could control me like a puppet.
Speaker 1: These events were degrading and disgusting, leaving me with infections, illnesses,
Speaker 1: and days of physical and emotional exhaustion. Before he demanded
Speaker 1: it all again. Sex acts became my full time job,
Speaker 1: used as the only way to stay in his good graces.
Speaker 2: I testified that I.
Speaker 1: Learned to read Shuancom's signals, knowing that when he spoke
Speaker 1: of freak alls, he was demanding them, and that refusing
Speaker 1: meant punishment. Losing my car my phone are worse. He
Speaker 1: controlled every part of my livelihood and threatened to destroy
Speaker 1: my reputation by leaking sex tapes, a threat he repeated often.
Speaker 1: His power over me eroded my independence. His power, she says,
Speaker 1: over me eroded my independence. And that is what prosecution
Speaker 1: is hoping that a judge takes from all of these letters,
Speaker 1: but specifically this letter. His power over me eroded my
Speaker 1: independence and sense of self until I felt I had
Speaker 1: no choice but to submit when he was believed I
Speaker 1: had wronged him or was not sufficiently responsive. He also
Speaker 1: threatened people around me and those close to me, including
Speaker 1: my family. Now Deontay Nash is stylist who was also
Speaker 1: stilent Cassie friend of Cassie's, also formerly a friend stylast
Speaker 1: of Diddy, also claimed this too, like a lot of
Speaker 1: times he would get threats and things of that nature
Speaker 1: because of what was or wasn't happening in Cassie and
Speaker 1: Diddy's relationship, and and you know, just trying to look
Speaker 1: out for her as a friend. I regularly worried that
Speaker 1: displeasing him meant putting my family in friends safety at risk.
Speaker 1: I testify how beyond the threats, Shawn Colmbs frequently used
Speaker 1: violence to get his way over the nearly eleven years
Speaker 1: we were together. Shawn Colmbs would hit me, punch me,
Speaker 1: stomp on my face, pull my hair, and throw my
Speaker 1: body to the ground and against the wall.
Speaker 2: The jewelry saw pictures of bruises on my back.
Speaker 1: They include the pictures in the sentencing package from shawnclmmes
Speaker 1: kicking and saw the deep gash over my eye, he
Speaker 1: calls when he slammed me into a bed frame. The
Speaker 1: entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating
Speaker 1: me as I tried to run away. And it was
Speaker 1: so hard watching that footage in the courtroom, like think
Speaker 1: of the imagery. We're watching that CNN video and in
Speaker 1: that video, he's literally repeatedly kicking her like she's just
Speaker 1: like they're like helpless. You're watching her, Cassie. You're watching Cassie.
Speaker 1: Watch the video. And when I say she is so pregnant,
Speaker 1: I mean she is like irritably pregnant, like she looked
Speaker 1: like she could pop any day. She's trying to get
Speaker 1: through it, holding back a motion. I'm like, there's no
Speaker 1: way a jury doesn't I don't care what he gets
Speaker 1: off on because I always felt like that Rico wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna stick, even though I felt like they had some
Speaker 1: parts of it, but it was in theory. I don't
Speaker 1: feel like they had enough evidence. There was no way
Speaker 1: in my mind after seeing that image. And I'm just
Speaker 1: a person sitting in the courtroom. Y'all know, I wasn't
Speaker 1: a durer duror, but after seeing that image of her,
Speaker 1: I'm like, there's no way that Diddy's team, who was great,
Speaker 1: They've been doing great at what they're doing right. Defending
Speaker 1: him can get that image out of a person's head.
Speaker 1: This woman is pregnant, she is here is obviously she
Speaker 1: does not want to be here. She's having to do
Speaker 1: this in front of her family, in front of the media,
Speaker 1: in front of all of these people.
Speaker 2: And then we're seeing bruised.
Speaker 1: Face and dash across the head and you know, just
Speaker 1: swollen lips, like it was so much. I think for
Speaker 1: about three weeks, maybe two weeks, all we did was
Speaker 1: look at photos of her bruises from her domestic violence
Speaker 1: and hear her recount every instance of like almost she
Speaker 1: talked about ode in at one point and just being
Speaker 1: thrown in the shower, and you know, it was a lot,
Speaker 1: she says. The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Sean
Speaker 1: Combs kicking me and beating me as I tried to
Speaker 1: run away from the freak off in twenty sixteen. People
Speaker 1: watch his footage dozens of time. See my body thrown
Speaker 1: to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into
Speaker 1: a fetal position to shield me from my worst blows.
Speaker 1: The physical violence caused bruises that makeup artists pay for
Speaker 1: by Sean Combs will cover up as well as permanent
Speaker 1: scars all over my body, she says.
Speaker 2: During my time with Combs, I was in a constant.
Speaker 1: State of hyper vigilance, as I was always anticipating demands
Speaker 1: for sex acts or otherwise fearing retribution for any perceived slight.
Speaker 1: My descentant to substance abuse was directly correlated with his
Speaker 1: increase control over my body, my money, my freedom, and
Speaker 1: my free will. I use those drugs to push me
Speaker 1: through the horrifying sex acts. I spent the last seven
Speaker 1: years of my life slowly rebuilding myself physically, getting clean
Speaker 1: from the drug abuse Sean Comb's force and encouraged and
Speaker 1: mentally understanding how to live with a seemingly huge amount
Speaker 1: of trauma. The horrors I endured drove me to have
Speaker 1: thoughts of suicide, ones that I almost followed through on
Speaker 1: if not for my families intervention and urging that I
Speaker 1: seek professional care. I've been in rehab and I've taken
Speaker 1: dozens of types of therapy to comfort myself, apartmentalized, and
Speaker 1: cope with the horrific memories of sexual and emotional abuse
Speaker 1: I endure for nearly ten years. While what he did
Speaker 1: to me is always present, I am slowly learning how
Speaker 1: to live my life free from fear and horrors I endured,
Speaker 1: and I'm doing so fully devoted to my husband and children.
Speaker 1: I still have nightmares and flashbacks on a regular, everyday
Speaker 1: basis and continue to require psychological care to cope with
Speaker 1: my past. My worries are that Sean Colmbs or his
Speaker 1: associates will come after me and my family, and that
Speaker 1: is my reality. I have, in fact, moved my family
Speaker 1: out of New York, out of the New York area,
Speaker 1: and am keeping as much of a private or qriet
Speaker 1: life as I possibly can, because I am so scared
Speaker 1: that if he walks free, his first action be swift
Speaker 1: retribution towards me and any others who spoke up about
Speaker 1: his abuse at trial. As much progress as I've made
Speaker 1: in recovering from his abuse, I remain very much afraid
Speaker 1: of what he is capable of doing in the malice
Speaker 1: he undoubtedly harbors towards me for having the bravery to
Speaker 1: tell the truth. His defense attorneys claim he is a
Speaker 1: changed man and he wants to mentor abusers. I know
Speaker 1: firsthand what real mentorship means, and this discuss me he
Speaker 1: is not being truthful. I know who he is or
Speaker 1: who he was to me, the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser,
Speaker 1: and the trafficker. And that is who he will be
Speaker 1: as a human. He has no interest in changing or
Speaker 1: becoming better. You will always be the same cruel, power hungry, manipulative.
Speaker 2: Man that he is.
Speaker 1: When I came out with my allegations in my civil case,
Speaker 1: he flatly denied them again and again, and he did
Speaker 1: the statement at some point said that you know, this
Speaker 1: was like an attack by the government. They were trying
Speaker 1: to railroad the black man with money. Did he really
Speaker 1: messed himself up with? I mean, you drag a woman
Speaker 1: and beat her on camera in the hallway of a
Speaker 1: very popular ritzy ritzy hotel. You're out of here mentally,
Speaker 1: like there's no thinking, no logic, no like that.
Speaker 2: It is just stupid.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's stupid to put jans on a woman
Speaker 1: like that anyway, but to do it in the way
Speaker 1: that he did, the lack of I'm not bigger than
Speaker 1: the program, it screams it, right. But then when she
Speaker 1: came out with the civil lawsuit, the way that they
Speaker 1: responded horrible. Once he came out responded that way with
Speaker 1: the civil lawsuit and then the video dropped, and then
Speaker 1: you know, now he has to say, oh, I've changed,
Speaker 1: I've changed, y'all whatever, And then we found out about
Speaker 1: Jane Is. Even if his team argues this is not
Speaker 1: a domestic violence case, the way that the narrative has
Speaker 1: been painted around Diddy, to me, is the biggest piece
Speaker 1: evidence that the prosecutors could have ever been handed. And
Speaker 1: they didn't have to do anything but talk about some
Speaker 1: things and show a video. To be honest with you,
Speaker 1: Cassie getting on the stand, I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: it helped for sure, that's why she was a star witness.
Speaker 1: But seeing the video and seeing everything he did after,
Speaker 1: I think even before Cassie got on a stand, there
Speaker 1: was a very clear line of like, oh, you do
Speaker 1: what you want.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 1: That is never going to fear farewell in court, not
Speaker 1: with everyday people in jurors. I don't care, you know
Speaker 1: what type of person you are, what type of celebrity
Speaker 1: you are, but especially not with a judge, especially not
Speaker 1: with a judge. And that's what makes me, you know,
Speaker 1: think you've been having conversations about what we think the
Speaker 1: sentencing will be for Diddy in these upcoming days, and
Speaker 1: you know, I've heard people say ten years, more than
Speaker 1: ten years, and I thought for a while, I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe anywhere from like two to four, and
Speaker 1: then he'll get the year, so he'll do about three.
Speaker 1: But with the prosecution acing for eleven. And you know,
Speaker 1: the judge repeatedly when they came to the bail conversation
Speaker 1: saying I don't think that you're ready to be back,
Speaker 1: and say I think everything is just too soon right now.
Speaker 1: I think a judge is really going to feel like
Speaker 1: he needs to sit Diddy down to teach him. You're
Speaker 1: not bigger than any program here, So we'll have to
Speaker 1: see what happens at the end of the day. There's
Speaker 1: always a lot to talk about, you guys. We are
Speaker 1: again less than five days away from the sentencing of
Speaker 1: Seawan Diddy comes one of the biggest names in entertainment,
Speaker 1: hip hop, you know, marketing, lifestyle.
Speaker 2: You could never have told me five or ten years ago.
Speaker 1: You know, you could have never told me that this
Speaker 1: is where we would be in conversation around Diddy and
Speaker 1: his legacy.
Speaker 2: But we're here.
Speaker 1: I want to know, what do you guys think? How
Speaker 1: many years is Diddy going to be.
Speaker 2: Handed On Friday? October third. Let's talk about it. Get
Speaker 2: in the comments, take it to streets and tweets for
Speaker 2: the TETs.
Speaker 1: Be outside, Were you outside, Were outside. I'm Lona Rosa
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, you guys could
Speaker 1: be anywhere with anybody, having a conversation about all of
Speaker 1: this stuff, but y'all choose to be here with me
Speaker 1: every single.
Speaker 2: Episode my Lowriders.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, guys, and please go check out my
Speaker 1: Forbes article. Take it, read it, share it all the things.
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys in my next episode.