Diddy makes sobering admission about his emotions as jury selection in bombshell NYC sex trafficking trial kicks off
A business attire-clad Sean “Diddy” Combs admitted he was feeling anxious Monday as his sex-trafficking trial kicked off in Manhattan federal court.Combs, 55, ditched his drab jail duds for a blue sweater over a white button-down shirt as he sat at the defense table observing the jury selection process.“I’m sorry your honor, I’m a little nervous today,” the embattled hip-hop icon told Judge Arun Subramanian, asking for a two-minute bathroom break after roughly 90 minutes of juror questioning in the hotly anticipated case.Twelve New Yorkers will ultimately decide whether the famously flashy multimillionaire is guilty of leading his Bad Boy Records company as a depraved “criminal enterprise” for decades.Combs is accused of helming a racketeering conspiracy that coerced women — including his ex-girlfriend, the singer Cassie — into days-long, drug-fueled sex benders Combs dubbed “Freak-Offs.”Groups of prospective jurors, starting with a panel of 50 people Monday morning, are being grilled on a questionnaire they filled out last week.They’ll likely be asked about their views on the hip-hop industry and on “people engaging in sexual relations with multiple sexual partners,” among other topics, before learning if they’ve been selected to judge Combs’ fate.One possible panelist, Juror 20, admitted that she “liked” a video on her Instagram page of a comedian poking fun at the 1,000 bottles of baby oil the feds said they found when raiding Combs’ mansions.
She was allowed to stay in the pool of jurors after saying she could judge the case fairly.The “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper forced his lovers to have sex with male prostitutes while he watched, and filmed the escapades to use as leverage, threatening to release the footage if the women did not obey his demands, the feds say.He’s also accused of serving as the kingpin of a scheme to carry out violent assaults, kidnappings, at least one arson, distributing narcotics and bribing...