As Sean 'Diddy' Combs awaits his day in court, facing numerous charges of sex trafficking and abuse, Kanye West is leveraging his close ties with President Donald Trump in a bid for clemency. The 24-time Grammy Award winner, who has cemented his legacy in music, took to social media on Thursday to passionately defend Diddy, urging Trump to grant the rapper a presidential pardon before his trial scheduled for May 5. Diddy has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been denied bail three times.
"FREE PUFF," West boldly declared on X, his social media platform. Having thrown his weight behind Trump during the 2016 presidential election, the Yeezy mogul further intensified his plea in another post, tagging the President directly: "@realDonaldTrump PLEASE FREE MY BROTHER PUFF."
In a profanity-laced tirade, West lambasted fellow celebrities who, according to him, stood idly by as their "brother rots in jail without lifting a finger." He added, "WE ALL WATCHED [CHRIS BROWN'S] DOWNFALL AND NOBODY DID ANYTHING. I WAS POWERLESS THEN TOO, CHRIS BROWN, UNTIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF."
West's fiery comments were made on the heels of Trump pardoning nearly 1,500 defendants charged in connection with the January 6th riots during the first day of his second term.
Combs, also known by his monikers Puff Daddy, Puffy, and P. Diddy, was arrested by the NYPD on September 16 in a New York City hotel lobby. The 55-year-old, who has won three Grammy Awards and boasts ten top-ten solo singles, including three number-one hits, is now behind bars and scheduled to stand trial on May 5. If convicted, he faces a life sentence.
Moreover, Combs is entangled in dozens of other sexual assault cases pending in federal and state courts, one of which co-stars Jay-Z as a defendant. Among the approximately 40 accusers, both female and male, who claim that Combs raped and abused them, are several minors, including a 10-year-old boy. The stakes have never been higher, and West's desperate plea for clemency underscores the gravity of the situation.
