Kanye West Showed Up at Sean Combs’ Trial

Kanye West showed up to Sean Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial in New York on Friday morning and walked through security with Combs’ youngest son, Christian “King” Combs.

Wearing an all-white denim ensemble and dark sunglasses, Combs traveled light as he passed through the checkpoint. (His wife, Bianca Censori was not with him.) Inside the courthouse, he was greeted by Combs’ attorney Xavier Donaldson and Charlucci Finney, Combs’ close friend and self-proclaimed godbrother who has attended each day of the trial.

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Combs did not attempt to enter the main courtroom where Combs sat with his team of lawyers, but was quietly led to an overflow room on the 23d floor, a floor below the typical room where members of the public watch the main courtroom’s happening on a large screen.

A nonchalant West stood and watched from a screen as Combs’ former personal assistant Jonathan Perez testified about “King Nights” he organized for Combs, before more eager spectators flocked to the room. West then motioned he was ready to leave to Christian, and he swiftly left the Manhattan courthouse within an hour of his surprise arrival.

On Friday, a source confirmed to Rolling Stone that court staff discussed the possibility of West’s arrival the day before. Both days, West was not on the official list of Combs’ close family and associates who get reserved seating in the main courtroom.

West is one of the few remaining celebrities to voice strong support for Combs amid the music mogul’s trial, now in its sixth week. West, who now goes by Ye, previously recorded a jail call with Combs and featured portions in his recent song, “Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine.”

“This shit is wicked, wicked, wicked. So you be careful,” Combs said in video of the jail call obtained by The Shade Room. Combs thanked West for acting like a “big brother father figure” to Christian while Combs was in custody. Combs described feeling like he was “left for dead,” with “only one person coming to do anything” to support him.

“I’m Puff Daddy in jail. This shit is fucking sad as a motherfucker,” Combs said.

West’s appearance at the courthouse in lower Manhattan followed a day after Combs’ ex-girlfriend, identified as Victim-2 in his indictment, finished her six days on the witness stand. The woman, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” claimed Combs busted down doors, punched her, and “forced” her into a freak-off in June 2024. She said shortly after a male escort arrived to join them that night, Combs confronted her over a trip she took to Las Vegas in January 2024 with an unidentified rapper and his wife or girlfriend. Jane testified that during the trip, which was to celebrate the wife or girlfriend’s birthday, she briefly ended up in a hotel with the couple and several other people, watching the same male escort having sex with a woman.

“How could you go to another man’s freak-off?” Combs allegedly demanded as the escort waited in another room, according to Jane’s testimony. The ex-girlfriend said she inadvertently ended up in the hotel room that night and only witnessed what was happening before leaving the birthday afterparty after about 20 minutes.

Combs, 55, was arrested in September and has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. If convicted as charged, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

On Friday, jurors heard from two more witnesses, including Combs’ former personal assistant Perez, who was granted immunity before answering questions on the stand. He testified that he worked for Combs between December 2021 and September 2024, when Combs was first arrested.

Perez said his direct supervisor was Combs’ former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram. He confirmed Combs was in a relationship with Jane during his tenure, calling her a “companion.” Perez said part of his job was setting up hotel rooms for Combs’ alleged freak-offs, which he knew as “king nights.” Prosecutors showed him messages he exchanged with Khorram and another assistant. In one exchange, Perez said he was heading to a sex store to purchase something for Jane to wear. In another thread from May 2023, another assistant said they “slipped & fell twice” while cleaning up a room after an alleged freak-off.

Jane and Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura both previously testified that Combs wanted them dressed in lingerie and drenched in baby oil during their marathon sex sessions with male escorts that Combs would stage-direct, videotape and watch while masturbating.

Perez said he accidentally came across such a video during his tenure, quickly alerting Combs and Khorram that on the staff iPad there was a videotape of Jane and an unknown male engaging in sexual activity while Combs was seen watching in the background. A seemingly concerned Combs said he wanted to launch an investigation into how it wound up on the device, although Perez said he was unsure if any investigation actually took place.

Six months later in January 2023, Perez said Khorram cornered him about the video, making him break down “step-by-step” how he discovered the recording and who he told afterwards. In audio of the conversation played to the court, Khorram said “an outside person” had brought up the recording and she needed to know how they found out. Perez said he was unaware that the lengthy conversation had been recorded.

In prior testimony Friday, a special agent with Homeland Security testified that 200 bottles of baby oil and 900 bottles of personal lubricant were found in Combs’s Los Angeles mansion during a raid last March.

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