“Real Time” host Invoice Maher weighed in on the continuing trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who stands indicted on federal prices together with intercourse trafficking, and the comic appeared guilty Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura for the abuse she allegedly suffered at his fingers.
“We need to keep two thoughts in our head at the same time,” Maher stated Friday on his present. “One, Diddy is a bad dude — really bad. Like, the worst thing in rap since Hammer pants. A violent, sick fuck … and we should lock him up and throw away the baby oil.”
“And two, things have changed enough so that moving forward, the rule should be, if you’re being abused, you gotta leave right away,” he continued. “Now, I completely understand why, in the past, women often did not do that.”
Maher went on to argue that victims had little recourse previous to the #MeToo motion that emerged within the final decade and helped girls expose their abusers, however instructed that victims who don’t instantly communicate out in immediately’s age are at fault for sowing public distrust.
Ventura began courting Combs in 2007— notably earlier than the #MeToo motion started —and he or she accused him in 2023 of repeated bodily and sexual abuse that started step by step and grew worse over the course of their relationship.
“It’s not victim-shaming to expect women to have the agency to leave toxic relationships,” Maher stated on Friday.
“Quite the contrary, to not expect that is infantilizing,” he continued. “If Diddy walks free, it will be because his lawyers can point to an endless stream of texts from Cassie expressing what’s often called ‘enthusiastic consent.’”
A graphic on the display screen subsequent to Maher confirmed textual content messages from Ventura offered at trial through which she wrote, “I’m always ready to freak off.”
Combs’ so-called “freak offs” had been orgies he allegedly organized, and he’s accused of drugging Ventura and others earlier than the occasions.
Charles Sykes/Invision/Related Press
Home violence victims typically don’t communicate up publicly, or merely depart their abusers, out of warranted worry of retribution. Whereas Maher claimed to “understand” why it “can be difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship,” his feedback instructed he didn’t.
“This should be society’s new grand bargain,” he stated. “We take every accusation seriously, but don’t tell me anymore about your contemporaneous account that you said to two friends 10 years ago. Tell the police right away. Don’t wait a decade. Don’t journal about it.”
“Don’t turn it into a one-woman show,” he added. “And most importantly, don’t keep fucking him. Your only contemporaneous notes about what he did should be the police report.”
Ventura, who was proven in safety footage launched final 12 months being brutally crushed by Combs, testified in courtroom that she endured “violent arguments that would usually result in some sort of physical abuse” — and that his safety guards “protected him” however “kept an eye on me.”
Representatives for Maher didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
Need assistance? Go to RAINN’s Nationwide Sexual Assault On-line Hotline or the Nationwide Sexual Violence Useful resource Middle’s web site.
