Kid Cudi Testifies About His Car Being Firebombed In Sean Combs Sex Trafficking Trial

Sean “Diddy” Combs is currently facing federal charges for sex trafficking and racketeering. His trial began last week in Manhattan, and his ex Cassie Ventura and the former Danity Kane/Dirty Money member Dawn Richard have both testified against him. Today, Kid Cudi became the third famous artist to testify in the case. On the witness stand, Cudi told the story of how his Porsche was firebombed during the brief period that he and Cassie were dating.

When Cassie sued Combs for rape and physical assault in 2023, her lawsuit mentioned that Combs once threatened to blow up Cudi’s car and that the car exploded in Cudi’s driveway shortly thereafter. A spokesperson for Cudi confirmed that this incident happened. When federal prosecutors brought charges against Combs, they cited the story of the firebombing. As The New York Times reports, Cudi appeared in court today and expanded on that story.

In his testimony today, Kid Cudi confirmed that he and Cassie were friends and that they “dated briefly,” beginning in 2011, as Pitchfork reports. Cudi said that Cassie and Combs “had some problems and they weren’t dating” at the time. Cudi testified that he got a call from Cassie one morning and that she told him that Combs was “abusive” and that he’d learned about the relationship. Cudi picked Cassie up and brought her to a Los Angeles hotel. The same morning, Cudi said that he got a call from Combs’ employee Capricorn Clark, who told Cudi that Combs was in his home at that moment. Cudi was not at his home when he got the call, and he said he called Combs and that Combs cursed him out and told him, “I’m over here waiting for you.”

Cudi testified that he returned to his Hollywood Hills house to discover that Combs was not there but that the house was “in disarray” and that his dog, who was “very jittery,” had been locked in a bathroom. Cudi said that he called Combs afterward: “I wanted to confront him. I wanted to fight him.” But he decided against it, instead reporting a break-in to the police. Soon afterward, Cudi and Cassie broke up.

Kid Cudi testified that he got an early-morning phone call in January 2012 from his dogsitter, who told him that his Porsche convertible was on fire in the driveway. The court displayed photos of Cudi’s car, which had its roof cut open, as well as the Molotov cocktail that was found nearby. Last week, Cassie testified that Combs threatened to blow up Cudi’s car at one point.

Cudi’s testimony followed testimony from George Kaplan, a man who worked as Combs’ personal assistant for two years. The Times reports that Kaplan called Combs “a god among men” during his testimony and that he claimed he was only appearing in court because he’d been subpoenaed and granted immunity: “I desperately did not want to come here today.” Kaplan spoke of a 2015 incident in which he was aboard Combs private jet and heard glass breaking. He says he saw Combs standing over Cassie with a whiskey glass and that “there was a tremendous commotion and scuffle.” Cassie allegedly screamed, “Isn’t anyone seeing this?” Kaplan says that nobody on the plane helped her and that he didn’t help or report the incident because “it would not have been in keeping with what I was trying to accomplish professionally.”

Kaplan also testifies that he once found Cassie in Combs’ bed “whimpering” with a bruise over her eye and that he once witnessed Combs throwing green apples at a different girlfriend. Kaplan claims that he gave notice and left the job shortly thereafter: “I was not comfortable or aligned with the physical behavior that had been going on that I had seen pieces of.”

If you or someone you know is undergoing sexual abuse, please visit rainn.org or contact the National Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-656-4673.