NEWS'Naive' Taye Diggs Was 'Blindsided' by Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Trafficking Arrest: 'He Was a Hero to Me'
Sean 'Diddy' Combs remains in jail on racketeering and trafficking charges.
Taye Diggs is still stomaching news of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' recent arrest.
The Rent star admittedly was shocked to learn of the music mogul's dark past, as he opened up about his reaction to the embattled rapper being hit with racketeering and trafficking charges during a guest appearance on the Thursday, September 26, episode of Kate and Oliver Hudson's "Sibling Revelry" podcast.
Taye Diggs was 'blindsided' by news of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' arrest.
"I felt so naive when I heard all that stuff because I was… I don’t know where I was, but all of it blindsided me," Diggs confessed more than one week after Combs was charged with three felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, s-- trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The All American actor noted: "He was a hero to me. I loved how he… he didn’t come from much, he started out as a dancer. All the things that I wasn’t, growing up, he was."
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was denied bail twice and labeled a 'flight risk.'
"He had so much confidence and a certain arrogance that I loved and he made being Black cool," Diggs added, mentioning how much he admired how the "I'll Be Missing You" rapper wore his racial identity "as a badge."
"I really put him on a pedestal and it was disappointing to see some of what happened," The Best Man star, 53, said of the Bad Boy Records founder, 54. "I couldn’t believe it. And I didn’t like that feeling."
Taye Diggs admitted Sean 'Diddy' Combs was previously a 'hero' to him.
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Diggs described his feelings surrounding Combs' arrest as "double-edged," declaring: "On one side, I’m like, this is great for people to know that this happens."
"We can think life is to be lived a certain way, we can think a person is a certain way and they can be the exact opposite and get used to that, you know?" he continued.
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Prosecutors claimed in an unsealed 14-page indictment that Combs "abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct" for decades.
The "I Need a Girl" hitmaker was additionally accused of "creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in … s-- trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice."
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was hit with several sexual assault-related lawsuits within the past year.
Among specific examples provided in the court documents included alleged "freak off" parties hosted by Combs — who reportedly "manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity with male commercial s-- workers," as part of his "patterns of abuse."
Combs allegedly recorded the "elaborate and produced s-- performances" at said illegal gatherings before later pleasuring himself to the footage.
The award-winning artist remains at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., after he was denied bail twice and labeled a "flight risk."
Combs has continued to insist his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges presented against him.
