Taye Diggs has revealed he felt ‘blindsided’ by Diddy‘s arrest on sex trafficking charges after previously considering the disgraced rapper a ‘hero.’
The musician, 54, real name Sean Love Combs, is currently awaiting trial at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
It is alleged that the rapper would coerce and manipulate victims into taking part in days-long sexual performances, which he dubbed ‘freak offs’.
Diddy’s associates would allegedly ply victims with drugs to keep them compliant and would make threats against anyone refusing to engage, in claims similar to those made in a civil lawsuit brought by Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie last year.
Actor Diggs, 53, said Thursday’s episode of Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson’s Sibling Revelry podcast: ‘I felt so naive when I heard all that stuff because I was… I don’t know where I was, but all of it blindsided me.
Taye Diggs has revealed he felt ‘blindsided’ by Diddy’s arrest on sex trafficking charges after previously considering the disgraced rapper a ‘hero’ – pictured last week
The musician, 54, real name Sean Love Combs, is currently awaiting trial at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution
‘He was a hero to me. I loved how he… he didn’t come from much, he started out as a dancer. All the things that I wasn’t, growing up, he was. He had so much confidence and a certain arrogance that I loved and he made being black cool.
‘I really put him on a pedestal and it was disappointing to see some of what happened. I couldn’t believe it. And I didn’t like that feeling.’
The Chicago star added: ‘On one side, I’m like, this is great for people to know that this happens. We can think life is to be lived a certain way, we can think a person is a certain way and they can be the exact opposite and get used to that, you know?’
It was recently revealed that Combs has ‘been able to speak briefly to family members and his children via phone’ as per People.
Diddy’s phone call home came amid news his lawyers are not asking for him to be moved from the ‘Hell on Earth’ Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset, Brooklyn.
‘He is very concerned about his kids and their well-being,’ the source stated.
‘He has three minor children, two of whom now have no living parent available with him incarcerated. Four of his seven children have neither parent available with him incarcerated.’
Another source said that the Combs kids are ‘in a state of crisis and shock’ following Diddy’s arrest.
Actor Diggs, 53, said on Thursday’s episode of Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson’s Sibling Revelry podcast: ‘He was a hero to me. I loved how he… he didn’t come from much, he started out as a dancer. All the things that I wasn’t, growing up, he was. He had so much confidence and a certain arrogance that I loved and he made being black cool’
‘It’s heartbreaking to see the children in the state they’re in. This is their father. But to them, he’s not Diddy — he’s Dad. He has always been a loving, devoted father.’
He shares Christian, Jessie and D’Lila with the late model and actress Kim Porter, who died in 2018 at age 47.
Quincy was Porter’s son with partner Al B. Sure!, and Combs went on to adopt him.
He shares Justin with stylist Misa Hylton, and Chance with businesswoman Sarah Chapman.
In December 2022 he welcomed the arrival of his youngest child, daughter, Love, with model Dana Tran.
On Tuesday Justin, Christian, and Quincy arrived together at a New York City courtroom to support their father.
He added of Diddy: ‘I really put him on a pedestal and it was disappointing to see some of what happened. I couldn’t believe it. And I didn’t like that feeling’; seen in 2022
Combs’s three daughters and 23-month-old baby girl were nowhere in view.
Another source told People that Diddy is not getting any special accommodations at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
‘He is being treated like any other detainee awaiting trial. As with all public figures in his position, he was placed on suicide watch upon admittance to the facility as a precaution.’
Diddy was arrested and charged last week for sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The charge, which details allegations dating back to 2008, accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing women for years ‘to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.’
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following his arrest, he was denied bail by a judge after he used both his and his mother’s homes in Miami – worth $50 million – as collateral.
On Wednesday, he lost an appeal to overturn the decision and will remain in custody while pending trial.
He is currently being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
‘He is being treated like any other detainee awaiting trial. As with all public figures in his position, he was placed on suicide watch upon admittance to the facility as a precaution’; seen in a court sketch from September 18
Reporter Meghann Cuniff also shared on Twitter on Monday that Diddy’s lawyers are not currently asking the judge to change where he’s being held.
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset, Brooklyn, also known as MDC, has a reputation for extreme violence, multiple deaths, squalid conditions, safety issues, rampant staffing shortages, smuggling of drugs and contraband, some carried out by its prison staff, and food that contains maggots – that have since been disproved.
The jail has been deemed so dangerous that some judges have refused to send other violent offenders there. Some of the infamous prisoners detained there include Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried and R. Kelly.
Combs, who pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to sex trafficking charges, is being held in solitary confinement – away from the comforts of his $48 million mansion – and on suicide watch.
This summer there were two fatal stabbings and another stabbing in April where an inmate was knifed 44 times by MS-13 gang members at MDC, as per NBC reported.
In the indictment against Diddy that was unsealed this week, it was claimed that federal raids on his Miami and Los Angeles mansions led to the discovery of over 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.
It is alleged that the rapper would coerce and manipulate victims into taking part in days-long sexual performances, which he dubbed ‘freak offs.’
Diddy’s associates would allegedly ply victims with drugs to keep them compliant and would make threats against anyone refusing to engage, in claims similar to those made in a civil lawsuit brought by Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie last year.
These allegations were central to prosecutors bringing sex trafficking charges against the producer, with observers noting that authorities are increasingly expanding the law to suit their cases against powerful defendants.
A step up in federal sex trafficking charges was passed by Congress in 2000 as an intentional step to take down prostitution rings and pimps, but the evolving nature of the charge has seen it more recently used to snare individuals like Keith Raniere.
Notably, Diddy has hired the same attorney, Marc Agnifilo, who has previously challenged the government’s expanding use of federal sex trafficking charges in Raniere’s 2019 trial that led to a 120-year sentence.
