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