As the trial of embattled music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs continues in a New York court, many around the world are hanging onto the updates given via journalists, as no cameras are allowed in the courtroom.
Diddy’s trial officially began on May 5 with jury selection. After the jury was chosen, the trial kicked off on May 12 with opening statements from both the defense and the prosecution. Witness testimony followed with Diddy’s long-time ex-girlfriend Cassie taking the stand and recounting the abuse she suffered during their 10-year relationship.
During her testimony, Cassie explained the inner workings of their relationship, which she described as having extremely unbalanced power dynamics. She recalled that Diddy called “all the shots” in both their personal and professional relationship, and if she did anything outside of what he demanded, abuse would occur, according to CNN.
“He would smash me in my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head if I was down,” Cassie said during her testimony on Tuesday, May 13.
When asked about the heavily reported “Freak Offs,” Cassie described how she felt after the multiple sexual encounters would occur. “I felt disgusting. I was humiliated. I didn’t have the words to put together at the time how horrible I really felt, and I couldn’t talk to anybody about it,” she said, per CNN.
Cassie, who is currently pregnant with her third child with husband Alex Fine, also shared the details of the physical altercation that was captured by hotel cameras in 2016. She revealed that the abuse seen on the video at the hands of Combs initially began because she attempted to leave one of the “Freak Offs” before it was over.
To highlight the #BlackGirlMagic on full display in such a huge trial, we rounded up a few of the Black women you need to follow for all of the latest updates, happenings, surprises and developments in the trial of one of the biggest names in entertainment.
Loren Lorosa
(@lorenlorosa)The Breakfast Club correspondent is keeping listeners of the show informed with the trial’s latest updates, and also sharing the developments on social media of each day’s events and testimonies.
Jericka Duncan
The CBS News correspondent is covering the Diddy trial in real time, for both the CBS network and also breaking down the daily events of the case to other media outlets, such as Entertainment Tonight.
Dr. Yasmin
Jasmine Simpkins and Debrah O
Despite Diddy’s trial taking place in New York, KTLA reporter and Hip Hollywood host Jasmine Simpkins and Debrah O are keeping the West Coast fully informed about every detail of what’s happening during the court proceedings.
Tori B. Powell
A member of CNN’s breaking news team that is covering the trial step-by-step via the network’s website, social media channels and also lie correspondence on-site at the New York courthouse.