NEWSUsher Slammed for Claiming 'Mentor' Sean 'Diddy' Combs Was 'Misrepresented' Amid Scandal: 'How Can Anyone Be This Insensitive?'
Usher failed to condemn Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
March 25 2026, Updated 10:46 a.m. ET
Usher is under fire for showering Sean "Diddy" Combs with praise.
Though the disgraced rapper is currently serving out a 50-month prison sentence on prostitution charges and has been accused of sexual assault by numerous men and women, the singer chose the word "legacy" when asked to describe Combs.
'I Don't Have Anything Negative to Say'
Usher was ridiculed on social media for praising his 'mentor' Sean 'Diddy' Combs despite his scandals and prison sentence.
"In many ways, I think certain people are prosecuted and maybe not recognized for the greatness that they offer," Usher, 47, told Forbes. "I don't have anything negative to say about Sean Combs because my experience was not what the world has seen and how he's been misrepresented."
"I’m not saying that every man is perfect. I’m not saying that all of us don’t have flaws," the "Yeah!" singer continued. "But I can’t with any sense of humanity not recognize the valuable contributions that this man made for us as Black entrepreneurs, for us as businessmen, for us as people who have transitioned culture and ideas into something that’s tangible."
The R&B singer said the Bad Boy Records founder was 'misrepresented' after countless sexual assault allegations.
Usher added that "so many people benefitted from" what the music mogul, 56, "created."
He went on to call Diddy a "mentor" and complimented him for finding "ways to monetize culture and create something that was not just Black or white. It was colorless. It was green."
'I Put Respect on His Name'
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Usher said he chooses to remember the good parts of Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
"That’s who I see that man as. And that’s what I choose to remember," he explained. "I put respect on his name because I realized that what I learned as a businessman before I even understood what business was came as a result of seeing the incredible things that he was able to do and the way that he positioned himself as a businessman."
Social Media Reacts to Usher's Statements
Someone on social media accused Usher of 'hiding something' since he wouldn't say anything negative about Diddy.
Social media was taken back by his response, with one person asking, "How can anyone be this insensitive?"
"I know something fishy when I see [it], he is hiding something," a second person guessed, while a third said, "Women and men were beat up and sexually assaulted!!! wtf is wrong with American society and sanitizing monsters."
"There’s a difference between FLAWED AND BEING A MENACE," another critic wrote. "That man was A MENACE TO WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE."
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was seen on video violently attacking ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
As OK! reported, multiple salacious stories about Diddy came out after he was arrested in 2024. A video was even made public that showed him attacking ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, 39, and several other people alleged they were drugged and assaulted at his s-- parties, which he referred to as "freak offs."
At the trial, Combs was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but was found not guilty on trafficking and racketeering allegations.
