Connect with us

Entertainment

Court Slams 50-month Jail Term on Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for Over Prostitution-Related Offence

Published

on

Music icon, Sean “Diddy” Combs, was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday for his conviction on prostitution-related charges.

Prosecutors had sought 11 years behind bars for Combs but Judge Arun Subramanian handed down a 50-month sentence after an emotional daylong court hearing.

Combs’s lawyers had urged the judge to sentence the 55-year-old hip-hop star to 14 months, which would effectively have been time served since he has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.

Addressing the court before the judge handed down the sentence, Combs said he was “truly sorry” for his actions and asked the judge for “another chance.”

“I ask your honor for mercy,” he said. “I beg your honor for mercy.”

Diddy Combs was acquitted by a jury in July of the most serious charges against him — sex trafficking and racketeering — but convicted of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution.

Combs’s former girlfriend Casandra Ventura submitted a letter to the judge asking him to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”

Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, described in wrenching detail the physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.

Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.

“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.

She said she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”

Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.

Speaking before the sentencing, prosecutor Christy Slavik said Combs has not accepted responsibility for his actions.

“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said.

Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”

Arguing for a lesser sentence, Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs’s lawyers, called him an “inspiration” to the Black community and a social justice crusader.

“No, Combs is not larger than life,” she said. “He’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes.”

But he is remorseful and “it’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison.”

Combs’s six adult children each delivered an emotional plea on their father’s behalf, with the eldest Quincy Brown calling him “a changed man.”

“Please, please give our family the chance to heal together,” said one of his daughters, D’Lila Combs. “Not as headlines but as human beings.”

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Entertainment

Hollywood Action Movie Superstar Chuck Norris Dies at 86

Published

on

By

Chuck Norris, the US martial artist and Hollywood action star most famous for his role in “Walker, Texas Ranger,” has died, his family said Friday. He was 86 years old.

“It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning,” the family said in a statement on Instagram.

“He lived his life with faith, purpose, and an unwavering commitment to the people he loved. Through his work, discipline, and kindness, he inspired millions around the world and left a lasting impact on so many lives,” the statement said.

Norris reportedly fell ill on Thursday on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Norris turned 86 last week, marking the event with a video of him boxing on social media and saying, “I don’t age. I level up.”

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Great Facts About the Forthcoming Oscars You Need to Know

Published

on

By

By Samantha Ofole-Prince
Below are great facts about the forthcoming Oscars most entertainment buffs may not have know…
1. Oscar is a nickname. The origins of the nickname are not clear, but a popular story has been that Academy librarian Margaret Herrick thought it resembled her Uncle Oscar and said so. The Academy staff began referring to it as Oscar, but the Academy itself didn’t use the nickname officially until 1939.
2. Each Oscar statuette is individually handcrafted, and the Oscar statuette stands at 13½ inches high and weighs 81/2 pounds.
3. The Oscar statuette is the most recognized award in the world and statuettes have been presented since the first initial awards banquet on May 16, 1929.
4. At age 74, Clint Eastwood became the oldest winner to date in the Directing category.
5. Hattie McDaniel is the first African American to win a best supporting actress Oscar. She won for her role as Mammy in the 1939 movie “Gone with the Wind.”
6. Halle Berry is the first African American actress to win best actress Oscar. She won in 2002 for “Monster’s Ball.”
7. In 2002, Denzel Washington became the second African American actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor (“Training Day”), and the first African American actor to have won Oscars for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor (Sidney Poitier was the first to win an Oscar in 1963 for “Lilies of the Field “).
8. Whoopi Goldberg and Chris Rock have previously hosted the Oscars, but Billy Crystal remains the longest serving host. Crystal has hosted the Oscars nine times to date.
9. Attendance at the Oscars ceremony is by invitation only. No tickets are sold to the public and in Oscar history; only three circumstances have prevented the Academy Awards presentation from going off as scheduled. The first was in 1938, when destructive floods all but washed-out Los Angeles and delayed the ceremony. In 1968, the Awards ceremony was postponed out of respect for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had been assassinated a few days earlier, and in 1981, the Awards were postponed for 24 hours because of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
10. The longest Oscar telecast was the 74th Oscars show in 2002 which had a running time of 4 hours, 23 minutes. Shortest Oscar telecast was the 31st Academy Awards in 1959 which had a running time of 1 hour, 40 minutes.
The Oscars, one of the most-watched live entertainment events of the year, will be held on Sunday, March 15 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC, streamed live on Hulu. With 16 nominations, Sinners set the record for most nominations for a film for the 98th Oscars. 
Samantha Ofole-Prince is a U.S. journalist and movie critic who covers industry-specific news that includes television and film.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

South African Actress, Nomzamo Mbatha, Tells Success Story on Glo-Sponsored African Voices

Published

on

By

Delectable South African actress, Nomzamo Mbatha, will this week on Globacom-sponsored Cable News Network International’s African Voices Changemakers, reveal her trajectory from the Rainbow Nation to the global stage of make-belief.

In the 30-minute magazine programme, show anchor, Larry Madowo, will engage Mbatha on her soaring career which earned her a mention in the prestigious TIME100 Next in 2025.

The thespian who has been featured in two Hollywood productions has also gained acclaim in the beauty industry as she has signed endorsement deals with Neutrogena and Cream of Nature, both global brands in skincare and haircare, respectively.

Madowo and Mbatha sat for the exclusive interview on set of the final season of the hit television series, Shaka iLembe at the historic Cradle of Humankind outside Johannesburg where she highlighted the cultural significance of Shaka iLembe, and why giving back to her society is at the center of her aspirations as well as the legacy she desires to build beyond the glitz and glamour of the big screen.

This edition of African Voices Changemakers will be broadcast on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with additional broadcasts at noon same day. On Sunday, further repeats hold at 4:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and on Monday at 3:00 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. The repeats continue on Tuesday at 5:45 p.m and Saturday, March 14 at 7:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m and Sunday, March15 at 3:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m as well as Monday, March 16 at 3:00 a.m.

Continue Reading

Trending