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On Wednesday, April 9, TV personality Stephen A. Smith shared his opinion on the news of Cassie Ventura testifying against Sean "Diddy" Combs during his trial in May. According to Smith, the one person who could "visually incriminate" Combs was his ex-girlfriend Cassie.
Smith then made a reference to the hotel surveillance footage, in which Combs was seen allegedly assaulting Cassie. He additionally mentioned that the video of Cassie could be used by the prosecution to allegedly "smear" the music producer.
Stephen S. Smith mentioned that once the footage will be shown to the members of the jury, they would not believe Diddy's claims over that of Cassie's. He further said:
"After that, every question they ask her, they're going to believe her before they believe him. They could even play the video of him on social media, looking disheveled and contrite and saying that he was real messed up. He was in a messed up place."
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The TV personality continued by stating:
"She's the last person that I would have expected to testify on behalf of the prosecution. I thought somehow, some way Diddy and his defense team would have prevented that part from happening. That's not going to happen."
According to Smith, the rapper was in no position to refute any statements or claims by Cassie Ventura during the trial. He also believed that her claims would be more impactful if the prosecution found questions relating to her personal experiences.
Cassie Ventura will reportedly use her name while testifying against Diddy and not go by "victim 1"
In Diddy's trial, which is set to begin next month, Cassie Ventura, his former girlfriend, will testify under her own name. On Friday, April 4, acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky filed a motion according to which Cassie was ready to testify with the same conditions.
In January, Rolling Stone described Cassie Ventura as "victim 1" and called her "the central target of the purported 'criminal enterprise' that allegedly used violence, threats, and manipulation to fulfill Combs' 's*xual gratification.'" Apart from Ventura, victim-2, victim-3, and victim-4 are also expected to give their testimonies, but anonymously.
The prosecution wrote in the motion that the case had already received massive media attention and that the coverage might just increase with time. They urged that the identities of the rest of the victims be concealed for safety purposes.
For the unversed, Cassie Ventura filed a civil suit against Diddy in November 2023. The case, however, was soon settled. She was in an on-and-off relationship with the music mogul for several years from 2007 to 2018, as per reports by The Hollywood Reporter (dated April 7). As of now, more than 60 suits have been filed against Combs.
While Cassie's lawsuit was settled, it led to a number of other lawsuits which accused Combs of s*xual assault and abuse. Cassie was back in the news last year in May when CNN shared the hotel surveillance footage in which she could be seen allegedly getting assaulted.
