Elon Musk recently took a shot at Jennifer Lopez after she told women not to vote for Trump, sarcastically asking, “How many people did she warn against Diddy?”
While Trump's win seems to have killed off the celebrity political endorsement for good, it’s still a question worth returning to. From the looks of it, the answer is none.
A witness later claimed to have seen a female hand toss a weapon from the car, an observation that led some to suggest Lopez might have been more involved than initially believed.
Lopez’s relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs, from 1999 to 2001, spanned one of the most turbulent chapters of his life. While the slippery showman was then at the height of his power, he also weathered explosive controversies — most notably a notorious 1999 nightclub shooting.
This sudden burst of violence cast a long shadow over everyone involved — Lopez included. More on that in a moment.
The timing of Lopez and Diddy’s relationship coincided with her ambitious pivot from acting to pop stardom. A wise pivot, I might add — anyone who saw her stumping for Kamala Harris knows she’s better suited to lip-syncing than line reading.
Her debut album, “On the 6,” was in its early stages when she began dating Diddy, the head of Bad Boy Entertainment, a powerhouse label under Sony — the same company backing Lopez.
As her rise in the music world mirrored her time with Diddy, speculation mounted that their connection was more calculated than romantic, more strategic than sincere. Known for mentoring stars like Mary J. Blige and Usher, Diddy was key in shaping Lopez’s image as a credible singer. Lopez herself often called him a mentor, one who guided her through the creation of her first album.
Then came the night of December 27, 1999. Lopez and Diddy were at Manhattan hot spot Club New York when an altercation between Diddy’s crew and another group erupted into gunfire, injuring bystanders. Amid the chaos, Lopez stood beside Diddy, bearing witness to an incident that would dominate headlines for months.
In the aftermath, the police arrested Lopez, Diddy, and other members of their group after a gun was found in their vehicle during a high-speed attempt to flee the scene.
A witness later claimed to have seen a female hand toss a weapon from the car, an observation that led some to suggest Lopez might have been more involved than initially believed.
However, the exact nature of her role remained unclear. Despite her arrest, Lopez was eventually released without facing charges, while Diddy prepared for a lengthy legal battle.
During the trial, reports emerged that he had offered his chauffeur, Wardell Fenderson, money and even a diamond ring — a gift from Lopez — to take the blame for the gun found in the car. Although Fenderson initially complied, he later recanted.
Throughout the ordeal, Lopez kept a low profile, avoiding public comment on the shooting or her relationship with Diddy. Her silence, however, only fueled the flames.
Was she complicit in a cover-up, or was she strategically distancing herself to protect her rising career? Public appearances and interviews sidestepped the trial, focusing instead on her music and god-awful movies.
Meanwhile, Diddy’s defense, led by high-profile attorneys Johnnie Cochran and Benjamin Brafman, successfully painted him as uninvolved in the shooting, while Moses "Shyne" Barrow, a young rapper on Diddy’s Bad Boy label, bore the legal consequences.
Barrow's defense admitted he fired a gun in self-defense, contrasting sharply with Diddy’s complete denial.
In the end, Diddy walked free, while Barrow took the fall, serving nine years in prison. Lopez’s choice to stand by Diddy until the trial’s end only intensified the intrigue. Yet their relationship, like her career today, quickly faded into obscurity.
But the ghosts of the past have a strange way of resurfacing.
Barrow — now a member of the House of Representatives in Belize — is making the rounds as the subject of a new documentary, which can't help but put renewed scrutiny on that fateful night.
As Diddy faces new federal charges of racketeering and other alleged crimes, the possibility of the nightclub shooting re-emerging in court looms. Lopez’s presence that night places her in the spotlight — as a potential witness or, conceivably, a participant.
Her testimony, or lack thereof, could be pivotal if investigators decide to revisit the incident as part of a broader investigation into Diddy’s criminal associations. But Lopez’s entanglement with Diddy runs far deeper than that single night.
The recent lawsuits lay out allegations stretching from the 1990s through 2022, a time when Lopez and Combs were America’s ultimate celebrity power couple.
A 37-year-old woman claims that Combs assaulted her when she was just 13 — with the help of an unnamed male and female celebrity — at an afterparty Combs hosted following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The lawsuit doesn’t reveal the identities of Combs’ alleged accomplices, but Lopez was his date that night, taking home the award for Best Dance Video.
Jenny may be from the block, but she could soon find herself looking at a very different kind of block — concrete walls and cold steel.
A new wave of lawsuits have been initiated against Sean “Diddy” Combs, which include accusations that the hip-hop producer raped a 13-year-old girl with a fellow celebrity as a female star watched the alleged sex crime.
On Sunday, Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee filed five new civil lawsuits against Combs in New York federal court under the New York City Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act. Buzbee had already filed six previous jury-seeking suits against the music mogul for alleged sex crimes.
The lawsuit claims that after the purported sexual assault, the alleged victim 'fell into a deep depression which continues to affect every facet of her life.'
Buzbee told NBC News, "We will let the allegations in the filed complaints speak for themselves and will work to see that justice is done. We expect to be filing cases weekly naming Mr. Combs and others as defendants as we continue to gather evidence and prepare the filings."
Buzbee said he is representing more than 120 individuals in civil lawsuits accusing Combs of sex crimes over the course of more than two decades. Buzzbee said the youngest alleged victim was only 9 years old when Diddy reportedly sexually assaulted him.
According to the latest lawsuit against Diddy, an alleged child sex crime occurred at an afterparty following the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2000.
The alleged victim, now 37, claimed she was raped at the afterparty when she was only 13 years old. The alleged victim — identified as Jane Doe — claimed to have felt “woozy and lightheaded” after one drink at the party.
“Looking for a place to rest, plaintiff entered what she believed to be an empty bedroom so she could lie down for a moment,” the 19-page lawsuit stated, according to Deadline.
“Soon after, Combs, along with a male and female celebrity, entered the room,” the 19-page action says. “Combs aggressively approached plaintiff with a crazed look in his eyes, grabbed her, and said, ‘You are ready to party!'”
“Combs then threw plaintiff toward another male celebrity, Celebrity A, who removed plaintiff’s clothes as she grew more and more disoriented,” the lawsuit contends. “Plaintiff was held down by Celebrity A who vaginally raped her while Combs and Celebrity B, a female, watched."
"After the male celebrity finished, Combs then vaginally raped plaintiff while the Celebrity A and Celebrity B watched," the suit alleges. "Combs attempted to force plaintiff to perform oral sex on him, but she resisted by hitting Combs in the neck; he stopped.”
The lawsuit does not name the male and female celebrities.
The alleged victim said she left “the large white house with a gated U-shaped driveway” after the claimed sexual assault, and her father picked her up.
The lawsuit claims that after the purported sexual assault, the alleged victim "fell into a deep depression which continues to affect every facet of her life.”
Rolling Stone reported that another victim said he was 17 years old when Combs sexually abused him.
The alleged victim — an aspiring singer identified as John Doe — said he went to a penthouse hotel party in Manhattan in 2022. The alleged victim claimed Diddy offered him a drink and “assured Doe that he could make him a star."
The alleged victim claimed he began to feel dizzy and confused.
He claims to have stumbled into a room where people were having group sex. The lawsuit claims Combs grabbed the alleged victim and "led him to the bed, forcing him to lie down on the bed against his will.”
"Combs grabbed Doe’s penis and genitals with his hand," the lawsuit alleges. "Combs manipulated Does’ genitals for an extended period of time, trying to get him aroused."
Another alleged victim claimed he was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to attend a party at Combs’ Holmby Hills mansion following the 2022 BET Awards. The alleged victim claimed he was handed a cocktail and soon felt “disoriented, dizzy and weak.”
The lawsuit states that the alleged victim reportedly was escorted into a small room where nearly a dozen people were engaging in group sex. After “realizing his significant impairment,” Combs allegedly approached him and “removed his pants, and began performing non-consensual oral sex onto him,” the suit claims.
Rolling Stone reported that Diddy's criminal defense team filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian on Sunday night, asking for a gag order that would prohibit “further extrajudicial statements from prospective witnesses and their lawyers that substantially interfere with Mr. Combs’s right to a fair trial.”
According to Page Six, Combs' legal team said: "The press conference and 1-800 number that preceded today’s barrage of filings were clear attempts to garner publicity. Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman.”
As Blaze News reported last month, Combs was arrested in New York City after the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York charged him with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and interstate transportation for prostitution.
The indictment read: “Members and associates of the Combs Enterprise engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other activities, sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion, and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
The indictment describes sex acts known as “freak offs,” in which Combs allegedly organized the transportation of sex workers across state lines and internationally — and often recorded them.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams previously said, "The freak offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics — such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] — which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.”
Diddy's federal trial is expected to begin in May. Combs has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, Combs faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and up to life.
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