Diddy trial live: Sean Combs accused of getting Wendy Williams FIRED for ‘outing him as gay’

To hear all the explosive testimony from singer Cassie Ventura and the other witnesses in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ trial, tune in to Daily Mail’s hit podcast The Trial.

From sworn testimony to video evidence and the rapper’s every subtle move, our team of journalists take you inside the courtroom of the world’s biggest celebrity case.

Daily Mail has been following Diddy’s downfall from the very beginning. Join us as we hear from experts involved in the case, and members of the rapper’s inside circle.

Former talk show host and radio star Wendy Williams claimed in the past that she was fired from Hot 97 in 1998 after she shared her belief that Diddy was gay.

Williams had supposedly said she had a photo of Diddy being intimate with a man.

The mogul’s former security guard Gene Deal seemed to confirm the claim in 2022.

‘[Diddy] got one of the hottest DJs off Hot 97 because she wanted to put up a picture of him getting his pants pulled down,’ Deal said, according to Vibe.

Wendy went on to become a superstar talkshot host, but famously continued sharing claims about Diddy.

Last week, another of Diddy’s former assistants took the stand for the prosecution.

David James, Combs’ personal assistant from 2007 to 2009, testified that the job seemed to have increasing perils. He said he quit when he realized Combs had put his life in danger by forcing him to drive a car as the angry rapper sat in the back with three handguns on his lap.

James said his job sometimes required him to ensure that hotel rooms where Combs stayed under the name “Frank Black” were stocked with the musician’s comforts, including fresh underwear, an iPod, apple sauce, vodka, baby oil, Viagra and condoms.

George Kaplan revealed that May 21, the birthday of Combs’ late protege Biggie Smalls, is a paid holiday at Combs Enterprises.

Smalls, who was also known as The Notorious B.I.G., signed to Combs’ Bad Boy Records label in 1993.

The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was fatally shot in Los Angeles in 1997.

Kaplan told jurors that his tenure with Combs has ‘proven to be one of the most complicated pieces of my life.’

‘I’m a young man and this is a God among men talking to me,’ said Kaplan, who served as an assistant for Combs and his Combs Enterprises company from 2013 to 2015.

‘He not only pushed me to my depth he pushed me to depths I didn’t even know I had,’ Kaplan said, explaining he ‘never worked harder in my life.’

Despite leaving the job after seeing Combs abusing Cassie, he said he still thinks fondly of many aspects of their work together and wishes the hip-hop mogul well on his birthday — blurting ‘Nov. 4,’ unprompted.

Newly released images from a raid on Diddy’s Miami mansion appear to show how the music mogul’s normally jet-black hair is a dye job.

Before his arrest months later, Diddy, 55, had always sported a more youthful jet-black hair and beard despite his advancing age.

Diddy nodded along during cross-examination as George Kaplan praised him for teaching him work ethic.

‘Mr Combs is a business mogul across numerous industries,’ Kaplan said when asked why he liked to work for Diddy.

‘I’d been a fan of his since I was a child and to be frank keep lessons from him to this day from a business perspective. He taught me to have the work ethic…no job is too big or too small.

‘When I interview young people none of these people understand that and I’m very grateful for these lessons.’

Diddy’s ex assistant George Kaplan told the jury about a time he witnessed the mogul attacking one of his girlfriends, Gina Huyhn.

Mr Combs was very angry and was throwing these apples that lived in a decorative vessel in an entryway. [Throwing them] at Gina. Hard. He was very angry

‘(Gina) was trying to shield herself with her arms, moving away from him. I left.’

When asked why he did not intervene, Kaplan replied: ‘All the same reasons as before, a young kid trying to make it in the entertainment industry.

‘This was my first professional endeavour and I thought this was normal and this is what I could expect if I wanted a career in this industry.’

Kaplan said shortly after the incident he quit his job and moved bacjk in with his mother.

He said he ‘I liked Mr Combs and wanted to continue having a relationship with him.’

Kid Cudi was met by US marshals and Homeland Security agents who escorted him into the courthouse on this rainy morning in New York City.

Last week, Cassie testified that Combs arranged for her to meet Cudi in 2011 to work on music. The two began dating soon after, and she said she got a burner phone to communicate with Cudi in secret.

Cassie said she and Combs had broken up at the time, although they still engaged in sex parties that Combs orchestrated. It was during one of these that Combs looked at her phone and learned of the Cudi relationship, Cassie testified.

In response, she said he lunged at her with a corkscrew and kicked her in the back.

When Cassie and Combs were out of the country in 2012, Combs told her that Cudi’s car would be blown up and Combs wanted Cudi’s friends there to see it, Cassie testified.

On Tuesday, Cassie’s mother, Regina Ventura, testified that Cassie told her Combs was so angry about her relationship with Cudi that he planned to release sexually explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt Cassie and Cudi.

Diddy’s former assistant George Kaplan told the court on Thursday he witnessed the mogul assaulting Cassie on his private jet in 2015.

I heard a glass break, behind me… It was a glass crash, shatter. I looked over my right shoulder and saw Mr Combs standing over Cassie.

She was on her back and her legs were extended up that indicated she was tyring to create space between the two of them. He was standing above her. He had a glass in his hand and he was holding it up. It was a whiskey rocks glass.

There was tremendous commotion and scuffle and after the glass crashed Cassie screamed: ‘Isn’t anybody seeing this?’

Kaplan told the jury no one aboard the private jet intervened.

When asked what he did, he replied: ‘Nothing. I looked away.

‘I was 23 years old, all I wanted to do was have a great job in the entertainment industry. I couldn’t believe my fortune working for an icon…

‘The last way I thought I would be successful was to compromise his wellbeing in any way.’

Judge Arun Subramanian ruled on Thursday that Kid Cudi can tell the jury about an incident of arson after he was threatened by Diddy over his romance with Cassie.

Cassie previously testified that Diddy threatened to hurt her and Cudi after he learned they were dating.

Cassie said she began a brief relationship with Kid Cudi ‘during a rough patch’ with Diddy.

She claimed Diddy went through her phone and found emails between her and the American rapper and became enraged.

Diddy allegedly placed a manual corkscrew in between his fingers and lunged at her, according to the lawsuit and she ran away to stay with Kid Cudi, according to the suit.

Cassie later returned and the music executive allegedly hit her several times, and then kicked her in the back as she tried to run out the door, the filing claims.

During Paris Fashion Week, she claims Diddy told her he was going to blow up Kid Cudi’s car and that he wanted to make sure he was home with his friends when it happened.

‘Around that time, Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway,’ the lawsuit stated.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers are discussing the upcoming testimony of Diddy’s former assistant George Kaplan.

Diddy’s defense said on Thursday they expect Kaplan to say he witnessed Diddy being violent to his ex-girlfriend Gina Huyhn in 2015.

Lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked the judge to not allow that part of the testimony, saying: ‘He’s going to say he saw Mr Combs throwing apples at Gina and wasn’t sure if any of the apples struck her…. That, without a date, is a far cry.’

Gina Huynh, who says she dated the 54-year-old music executive for five years, described in a resurfaced interview from 2019 a time at which he allegedly became violent with her.

The model told the controversial blogger Tasha K that he allegedly ‘stomped’ on her stomach and repeatedly punched her in the head during one disturbing encounter.

Prosecutors said they will next call Kid Cudi to the stand after she claimed Diddy threatened him when the two were dating.

Cassie’s former make-up artist Mylah Morales is supposed to take the stand after Cudi, and she will be followed by a ‘hotel witness.’

Former Combs Enterprises CFO, music executive Tony Abrahams, is also expected to testify for the prosecution.

The music mogul’s staggering downfall began when Cassie, real name Cassandra Ventura, filed a bombshell lawsuit in 2023 detailing terrifying claims of sexual abuse and violence.

The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount just a day after it was filed, but it was too late for Diddy’s reputation, and the rapper was then hit with dozens of lawsuits including similar claims.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is currently in the fight of his life in federal court as he stares down the prospect of decades behind bars.

The disgraced rap mogul, 55, has been charged with two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and one count of racketeering.

According to prosecutors, the rapper used his ‘multi-faceted business empire’ to carry out a ‘criminal enterprise’ for years, allegedly coercing victims into sexual ‘freak off’ marathons and threatening them into silence.

The racketeering and sex trafficking charges carry a minimum sentence of 15 years each, while transportation to engage in prostitution carries a maximum of 10 years behind bars.

Rapper and actor Kid Cudi is expected to testify at the Diddy trial this week, taking the witness stand to tell the jury about his brief relationship 14 years ago with the mogul’s ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie.

Prosecutors say Combs was so upset about the relationship that he arranged to have Cudi’s convertible firebombed, according to court filings.

Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, won’t be called to the stand before Thursday, prosecutors informed the judge on Wednesday.

George Kaplan is expected to continue his testimony on Thursday.

He invoked the fifth amendment on Wednesday in court, asking for immunity before testifying in Diddy’s sex trafficking trial.

The former employee told the court Diddy often threatened his job and became enraged over minor issues.

One time, the mogul allegedly became angry and got in Kaplan’s face because he had bought him the wrong kind of bottled water.

First week on the job and he asked me to go to Whole Foods to get a BPA free gallon water bottle. They didn’t have it and I didn’t want to be late.

I got two half-gallon bottles and that was insufficient. He told me I did not bring him what he asked for. He was angry. He was very close to my face.

Kaplan said he was in charge of setting up Diddy’s hotel rooms in LA, New York and Miami.

He said ‘a hotel bag that had seemingly what was needed for hotel stays.’

The bag contained clothes, a speaker, candles, liquor, baby oil and astroglide.

When Diddy was done with the hotel rooms, Kaplan said it was his job to clean them up.

Kaplan said there would be ‘Lots of empty bottles, gatorade bottles, liquor bottles, often baby oil, on the table, on the floor, around the bed.’