The Diddy verdict is not enough

(News4usOnline) – With the aftermath of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ finalized verdict, does 10 years pay for the harm he’s caused his victims? And who has the right to say yes or no?

I can vividly recall the now infamous footage of music mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs attacking his now ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura by an elevator entrance in a hotel, as she clings to her attempts at escape.

To this day, the clips from the grim video echo a sentiment of a well-known horror: how victims of domestic violence are often not only silenced and ignored, but disregarded as another unfortunate tale as old as time.

This is a case about a famed rap artist now turned record producer/executive who holds a net worth of $400 million dollars (as of 2025), who also helped pioneer the sound of hip-hop and R&B from era to era, who is line line to receive a sentence of 10 years of prison solely for the illegal practice of transportation of prostitution. Knowing what we know by now, of course, he is guilty.

However, with things already revealed, there still lie more questions hidden beneath the cracks of the surface. Questions that can only be answered through conversations no one is ready to have.

“We very much engage in hierarchies in this society. And masculinity and femininity are one of those that exist in them. So I definitely was not surprised,” California State University Dominguez Hills Africana Studies Professor Meryah Fisher stated with disappointment. “I wasn’t surprised at the accusations, I also wasn’t surprised that some charges weren’t brought, and I wasn’t surprised at the ultimate verdict thus far.”

My personal reaction to the accusations and following trial was a culmination of sympathy for Ventura and other victims who were sexually exploited by the hands of Combs, and disbelief for the powers that be. Conversations unpacking discomfort surrounding the optics of the trial, and whether or not Combs could possibly have a chance of walking away from his crimes unscathed, left much grey area.

“When you think about domestic violence, specifically in terms of criminal justice, it’s never going to be something that is highly tried when at least 40% of the police forces are also domestic violence abusers,” shared Fisher.

The sexual exploitation of Black and brown women intersected with power seemed to also fuel the narrative as to who actually holds the power in terms of rightful justice, and how public cases such as Ventura’s serve as cautionary tales of why justice is not so easily given, nor promised.

“So there’s a couple of different reasons for that. This is a country that claims to pride itself on things like freedom, and things like law and order,” Fisher divulged. “We have shows that are dedicated to things like this that are cult classics. You can go damn near anywhere and ask somebody about Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and somebody in the room is gonna know. We normalized a lot of that.”

Being known as a vocal figure in the black and queer community as a community-based artist, singer-songwriter, poet, “space builder,” community educator, and a domestic abuse survivor themselves, Fisher stated, “It takes an average of 7 times to leave.” We discussed the uncomfortable reality of domestic abuse survivors pertaining to cases such as Ventura’s. “That doesn’t mean only the seventh time is the dangerous one. Everything that you do that even hints at trying to leave is dangerous.”

In addition to being charged with the illegal transportation of prostitution, Combs was also subsequently charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, both of which he was not found guilty due to the display of poorly supported evidence.

Following his requests for bail that were eventually denied three times by Judge Arun Subramanian, questions regarding the case began to gradually resurface as spectators believed that hush money was involved in how the case was handled.

At the beginning of our conversation, Fisher claimed that, “Bringing charges up is not a shock. The caveat is, this is also a country that we know does not actually engage in justice with its criminal justice system. And so time, and time, and time again, we see folks who – particularly with domestic violence – harm one, two, doesn’t matter how many people. They don’t often see jail time. They don’t often see charges for domestic violence, which is something you see with this case. There weren’t domestic violence charges. The charges were about trafficking, they were about racketeering, and they were about prostitution.”

Ventura, who made accusations that she was trafficked, physically and sexually assaulted by Combs (including an accident when he forced himself into her home and raped her in 2018), said all of this occurred during a 10-year window. Having secured a $20 million dollar settlement during the process of the trial, Ventura’s decision in pursuing a settlement further amplified people to question her victimhood.

“The public also having its own social programming and social conditioning in a very specific and direct way geared towards harming us – that is geared towards harming ourselves– is not surprising,” Fisher clarified.

An important issue within this topic lies in who exactly we grant protection to, including victims or perpetrators in different circumstances, industry-wise, or in reality.

“It’s all about scale,” affirmed Fisher, speaking on the power dynamics within contexts of the case, especially as it evolves a lack of justice. “The reason why those men all end up the same way is because they end up the same for us, too.”

During the final moments of our conversation, the theme of empathy, compassion, and grace intersected in a cry for hope. Victims such as Ventura – and the countless other victims involving both men and women – were robbed of their right of a proper just due, especially in the world of entertainment, and within the phenomenon of hip-hop.

“When we think about all the things that Diddy has contributed to the hip-hop community and the hip-hop culture, it gets difficult to then remove him,” Fisher explained, “but the truth of the matter is – and even bringing in the new information regarding Biggie – these actions really show us, he has never been hip-hop, but he has been commercialized rap. Commercialized rap for the upliftment and enhancement of white supremacy. Because that’s where that violence culture comes from.”

“Real hip-hop community should be looking at this and saying, Diddy ain’t real Hip Hop,” concluded Fisher, reflecting on our discussion. Silence robs mourning voices waiting to be heard. And in the veil of Combs’ crimes and cultural deceit, voices advocating for truth must be amplified.