The celebrity name-drops at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial kept coming Friday with the mention of another allegedly abusive singer: Chris Brown.
Brown’s cameo came when Combs’ lawyer asked Cassie Ventura about a time when the Bad Boy Records mogul was mad at her.
Sean “Diddy” Combs listens as lawyer Anna Estevao cross-examines Casandra “Cassie” Ventura on Thursday in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS
“Do you remember when [Combs] thought you were dancing with Chris Brown?” defense lawyer Anna Estevao asked Ventura in Manhattan federal court.
“I do, but I was not … I wasn’t dancing with Chris Brown,” Ventura, 38, responded.
Estevao moved on to another topic after the brief exchange.
Chris Brown and Cassie for his Jack Harlow-assisted song “Psychic.” YouTube
Brown, 36, is a Grammy Award-winner who pleaded guilty to viciously beating his ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. This week, British authorities accused Brown of attacking a music producer with a bottle at a nightclub.
The “Under the Influence” singer is also just one among a growing list of celebs whose names have come up in testimony at Combs’ trial, which is at the end of its first week.
Britney Spears got name-dropped Thursday because Combs invited the pop star to Ventura’s 21st birthday bash at a Vegas club.
Chris Brown performs during Tycoon Music Festival at Little Caesars Arena on April 19 in Detroit, Michigan. Getty Images
Actor Michael B. Jordan and rapper Kid Cudi also both came up because they’d been romantically involved with Ventura.
The court also heard Friday how Combs once snatched Ventura’s phone out her hand while they were in a car together — because he suspected that she was dating a professional football player.
Ventura testified about the August 2016 incident, where Combs ran down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles with her phone. She said that her mom eventually called the police after she returned home without the phone.
The court heard Friday how Combs once snatched Ventura’s phone out her hand because he suspected that she was dating a professional football player. Getty Images
Esevao painted the incident as another instance of Combs’ jealously.
The athlete’s identity wasn’t revealed, but Ventura confirmed that he was a professional NFL player at the time.
“He was upset with you when he suspected you of cheating, right?” Esevao asked.
“I don’t know I would call it cheating at that point,” Ventura replied.
Another high-profile celebrity arguably made a tangential appearance during Ventura’s time on the witness stand.
Ventura testified about the August 2016 incident where Combs ran down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles with her phone, which his lawyer attributed to jealousy. Jeff Vespa
Ventura, a mom of two who’s eight months pregnant, testified that she underwent mental health treatment at the Willow House facility in Arizona for 45 days in 2023 and underwent the same therapy that Prince Harry did.
She told jurors that while at the facility she partook in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing treatment — or EMDR — which “is part of trauma therapy … my understanding is it helps me recount memories and process them.”
The royal in 2021 was filmed having the same treatment to help him with PTSD from the death of his mother Princess Diana.
The footage is in the third episode of Apple TV+ docuseries, “The Me You Can’t See,” with Oprah Winfrey.
Ventura — who has been sober since 2022 — testified that she underwent a slew of other treatments when she was at Willow House.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering. He could face life in prison, if convicted.