Kid Cudi testified in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial on Thursday, detailing how his car was set on fire just weeks after the disgraced music mogul allegedly broke into his home.
While on the stand in Manhattan federal court, Cudi said that he received a panicked phone call in December 2011 from Combs’ ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, whom Cudi was also dating at the time. To help Cassie get away from Combs, who had found out about their relationship, Cudi took her to a West Hollywood hotel.
Shortly after, Cudi said he received a call from Combs’ assistant, informing him that an irate Combs had unexpectedly shown up at his home. Cudi then called Combs directly and asked whether he was at his house, to which Combs allegedly replied, “I’m over here waiting for you.”
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Upon returning home, Cudi found Combs had already left. Instead, he discovered his dog locked in a bathroom and saw that someone had opened Christmas presents that he had purchased for his family.
“I wanted to confront him. I wanted to fight him,” Cudi testified, but he chose to call the police instead.
According to Cudi, he subsequently received a call from his dogsitter in January 2012, who “told me my car was on fire.” Photos presented to the jury showed a hole cut into the roof of Cudi’s torched blue Porsche, which he said was destroyed by a Molotov cocktail.
Cudi said he met with Combs the next day to smooth things over in a meeting set up by his manager and Combs’ bodyguard because “after the fire, I said, this is getting out of hand, I need to talk to him.” During this meeting, Combs denied any involvement in the car fire.
However, Cudi testified he didn’t have beef with anyone besides Combs at the time, leading him to speculate, “I knew he had something to do with it.” Combs’ lawyers objected to this comment, and the jury was told to disregard it.
Leading up to the trial, prosecutors said associates of Combs allegedly set fire to a rival’s car by cutting open its convertible top and dropping in a Molotov cocktail during a feud between late 2011 and early 2012.
During her own four-day testimony last week, Cassie told the jury that she entered a relationship with Cudi in late 2011, and that Combs had subsequently threatened to blow up Cudi’s car after learning they were together.
