50 Cent, Diddy fight spills into court as former assistant reveals long-running feud
A long-brewing hip-hop feud spilled into the courtroom this week after a former assistant for Sean "Diddy" Combs alleged the music mogul had beef with fellow rapper 50 Cent.
Capricorn Clark, who worked as Combs' assistant for several years in the mid-2000s, took the stand in his federal sex-crimes trial May 27 to chronicle the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of the music mogul and to name-drop a few other industry power players.
In one instance, Clark described traveling with Combs to MTV for a press engagement and overhearing him tell a security guard that he didn't like nonsense and people, but he did "like guns." Rapper 50 Cent, who has been trolling Diddy online throughout the trial, was also at MTV that day, Clark said, claiming Combs "had an issue with 50 Cent."
That issue has become even more apparent in recent months as 50 Cent, who is producing a Netflix documentary on Combs, has continued to paint Combs as a liar and a fraud.
In a July interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 50 Cent claimed "everything" Combs says is a lie. Alluding to a CNN video showing Combs physically assaulting Ventura Fine, the rapper added that "with all the influence and power you have, the person you're with is supposed to want to be a part of your life, not be forced."
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50 Cent told the outlet some people in Hollywood might fear being implicated if they spoke out against Combs, in the wake of a torrent of civil suits accusing the music mogul of sexual assault and abuse.
"Some of them were involved, at the parties and enjoyed themselves, so they don't know what was being filmed," he said. "So they're not going to say anything because they might have had too much fun. And then you've got other people who look and go, 'Well, that's not my business and I don't want to be in it.'"
Capricorn Clark says Diddy threatened her after discovering Suge Knight ties
Clark, who said she worked for Combs between 2004 and 2012, also told jurors that Marion "Suge" Knight, the one-time music mogul and hip-hop executive who feuded with Combs in the '90s, is the father of her best friend's children.
Knight is the co-founder of Death Row Records, a California-based label that was at odds with Combs' Bad Boy Records during the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry.
Knight has emerged as a recurring character in the trial, after Combs' ex-partner and star witness, Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine, recalled an instance in which she tried to dissuade the music mogul from confronting him. The prosecution appears poised to use Combs' feud with Knight, as well as another series of encounters with rapper Kid Cudi, as demonstrative of a violent streak.
Clark, who claims Combs was violent with her throughout her tenure, told jurors that on her first day of work, the music mogul took her to Central Park after 9 p.m. and interrogated her about her connections to Knight.
He "told me he didn’t know I had anything to do with Suge Knight and if anything happened, he would have to kill me," Clark alleged, saying she took that as "a very serious" threat.
Clark's testimony is key to the prosecution's claims of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution – all charges Combs has pleaded not guilty to – given that her accounts corroborate claims from Ventura Fine and Cudi.
Ventura Fine testified that Clark was aware Combs had allegedly threatened to release explicit footage of her, while Cudi said Clark was the one who told him Combs had allegedly broken into his Los Angeles home after learning of his relationship with Ventura Fine.
Contributing: Edward Segarra