Kid Cudi says he never wanted to take the witness stand against Sean “Diddy” Combs, and twice told prosecutors “no”, but ultimately had no choice when he was subpoenaed to testify in the music mogul’s high-profile sex trafficking and racketeering case in New York.

Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast while promoting his new memoir, the rapper, born Scott Mescudi, detailed his initial refusals, his reluctant appearance in court, and the events that led to his testimony. “At first they asked, I said no. They asked again. I said no. Then I got subpoenaed. And I was like, ‘F---, s---, no,’” he recalled. He considered wearing a suit but opted for jeans, a black leather jacket, and a cigarette in hand when he arrived at the federal courthouse in Manhattan. “I hated every minute of it,” he said. “I did not want to do it.”

What helped him through the May 22 testimony, Mescudi said, was the knowledge that he was there to support R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. Ventura had testified a week earlier, alleging that Combs physically abused and harassed her during their decade-long relationship. Mescudi dated Ventura briefly in 2011 when she was on a break from Combs, a period he described as marked by “some problems” in their relationship.

“I just was there to support her,” he told host Alex Cooper. “That’s what kind of gave me peace with it when I sat down in that chair. It [went from], ‘Damn, I don’t want to do this,’ to, ‘I gotta hold homegirl down.’ Cassie is my friend, and I love her. I’ve always just wanted to see her thrive and be happy, because I know she was living the nightmare.”

A Key Witness

Prosecutors considered Mescudi a key witness. On the stand, he recounted a December 2011 incident in which Combs discovered his relationship with Ventura. According to Mescudi, Combs broke into his home, prompting a tense phone call as the rapper rushed back. “Motherf---er, are you in my house?” he remembered demanding. While the two never met in person that day, Mescudi testified that he returned to find his Christmas presents unwrapped and his dog locked in a bathroom, visibly shaken.

A month later, in January 2012, Mescudi’s Porsche was firebombed outside his Hollywood Hills home. Ventura testified that Combs had told her he planned to bomb the vehicle. On the stand, Mescudi said Combs denied involvement, but he did not believe him.

Mescudi also described a meeting at the Soho House in Los Angeles, which he arranged in hopes of cooling tensions. When he arrived, he said, Combs was “standing there, staring out the window with his hands behind his back, like a Marvel supervillain.” Combs again refused to acknowledge any link to the car bombing. “It was just chaotic and intense,” Mescudi said. “I was already out of my mind, dealing with my own personal s---, so I was willing to walk into the fire.”

Combs was ultimately acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges but convicted on two felony counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. In closing arguments, his lead attorney conceded that Combs had subjected Ventura to domestic violence but argued it did not amount to sex trafficking.

Mescudi told Cooper that, before Ventura’s November 2023 civil lawsuit against Combs brought the firebombing to light, he had viewed the incidents as “just some crazy s--- that happened”, another chapter in what he called his “rock and roll life.”