Musk found himself at the centre of those questions this week after he shared a screenshot of an article on X. — AP
Elon Musk is having trouble distancing himself from questions over which of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ powerful friends and business associates possibly enabled his alleged “criminal enterprise,” which authorities say was focused on fulfilling his sexual desires through sex trafficking and sexual assault of multiple people, including a nine-year-old boy.
Musk found himself at the centre of those questions this week after he shared a screenshot of an article on X, his social medial platform, Mediaite reported. The article dealt with news that the hip-hop mogul faces new allegations in civil court, which claim that he sexually abused more than 100 people, including a young boy who auditioned for his record label. The headline read: “Diddy accused of abusing nine-year-old boy and spiking drinks with horse tranquiliser as 120 victims come forward with shocking claims.”
Reacting to the article, Musk wrote on X, “How many people in music & entertainment knew about this?”
Social media users were quick to respond to Musk by mentioning his own relationship with Combs, Mediaite reported. Some pointed to a new book in which Musk reportedly bragged about his friendship with Combs, saying “we text a lot.” The Hollywood Reporter also reported in August that a fund linked to the entrepreneurial Combs was among the investors in Musk’s US$44bil (RM186.36bil) bid in 2023 to purchase Twitter, which he rebranded as X.
A prominent respondent to Musk’s post was singer Aubrey O’Day, Page Six reported. The outspoken media personality and former Combs mentee hit back at Musk Wednesday by implying that the Tesla CEO’s “friends” knew about Combs’ alleged abuses. O’Day, who has criticised Combs for years, reposted Musk’s comment, saying he should “ask your friends, they will tell you.”
It is unclear which of Musk’s “friends” O’Day was referring to. Neither she nor Musk responded to Page Six’s requests for comment.
Earlier this week, Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee announced he was representing 120 individuals – including a nine-year-old child – in civil lawsuits against Combs for allegations spanning the last three decades, Page Six said in another report.
Buzbee alleged that the Bad Boy Records founder sexually assaulted the minor when he was among a group of boys brought to New York City to audition for Combs’ Bad Boy Records, Page Six reported.
“This individual was sexually abused allegedly by Sean Combs and several other people at the studio, with the promise to both his parents and himself of getting a record deal,” Buzbee said at a news conference in Houston. The attorney also claimed that Combs drugged his alleged victims by spiking their drinks with horse tranquiliser.
“Several of the individuals (I represent)... were drug tested, and drugs were found in their system,” he said, according to Page Six.
During the press conference, Buzbee also alleged that a pregnant woman’s drink had been “laced” with drugs when she attended a group dinner with the rapper in Miami. The attorney said the woman, who said she tried to avoid alcoholic beverages all night, “blacked out” and “woke up in the same bed – again, allegedly – with Mr Combs in his mansion in Miami.”
After Buzbee’s press conference, Combs’ legal team told Page Six that the embattled music mogul “emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors.”
But during the press conference, Buzbee warned that the “day will come” when he names other alleged perpetrators and bystanders associated with Combs’ alleged illegal activities, Page Six reported. He said “there’s a lot of names” and “the names will shock you.”
“We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors,” Buzbee said. “We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates.”
Combs, 54, was arrested last month on federal charges of racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution. While he pleaded not guilty, he was denied bail and remains in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors say that Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct” for decades, “creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in... sex trafficking, forced labour, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
According to the indictment, Combs and other members of this “enterprise” allegedly facilitated multiple “freak off” parties, drug-fueled sex gatherings that could last for days.
During his rise in the worlds of entertainment and business, Combs forged ties with many A-list celebrities and made sure he would be seen with them at the lavish “white parties” he hosted at his homes in the Hamptons and in Los Angeles. Now, some of those celebrities are under pressure to tell authorities what, if anything, they know about Combs’ alleged illegal activities or to take responsibility for enabling Combs’ decades-long abuse of power.
Musk is one of those celebrities, even if he apparently doesn’t see himself that way. But according to the new book, Character Limit, Must boasted about his friendship with Combs to Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels after Samuels expressed concern over racism on X under Musk’s ownership, Futurism.com reported.
“I don’t know if you know this, but Puff is an investor in Twitter,” Musk told Samuels, using a nickname for Combs, according to authors Kate Conger and Ryan Mac. “You know, he’s a good friend of mine. We text a lot.”
In August, it was reported that Combs invested in Musk’s purchase of X. Mediaite also reported that he was photographed sitting with Musk at a Dave Chappelle show in May 2022. – The Mercury News/Tribune News Service
