Entertainment lawyer and legal expert Lisa Bonner has told Page Six that it’s ‘highly unlikely’ that Diddy will actually take the stand during his trial, which sees him accused of sex trafficking, as well as racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty on all five counts.

The reason that Bonner thinks that Diddy won’t take the stand, if he can avoid it, is because he can be asked about any of the crimes he has been accused of. And if he were to found to be lying about his involvement in any of these, or any actions of his, he could also go to prison for perjury.

‘Once you take the stand, everything you’ve ever done – related to any of these alleged crimes – become fair game,’ she said. 

Performer Kid Cudi (whose real name is Scott Mescudi) has testified in court and referenced that Diddy allegedly bombed his car with a Molotov cocktail – a handmade weapon made from flammable material and equipped with a fuse – back in 2012. The rapper said that Diddy ‘had something to do with it’.

‘There is a lot of evidence that will be presented, even up until now, that I wouldn’t want to answer if I was Diddy,’ Bonner said. ‘For example, ‘Did you drop the Molotov cocktail in the car or did you have any involvement in that?,’ she added.

So while Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura has relived the trauma she says she suffered in an abusive relationship – she alleges he repeatedly beat her and threatened to ruin her career with videos of sexual behaviour – Diddy can be protected from being opened up to questions about his actions. This feels unfair when Ventura appears visibly upset and emotional recounting her story, but the law protects a powerful man from having to speak about what he’s been accused of.

Her testimony has already alleged that Diddy ‘would mash me in the head, knock me over, drag me, kick me. Stomp me in the head if I was down’. A video of Diddy dragging Ventura down a hotel hallway and punching and kicking her that was surfaced last year was played in court.

Former security officer at the hotel Israel Florez has also testified that he saw Diddy while responding to a call about a woman in distress. He described seeing Diddy sitting in a chair with a ‘devilish stare’. Florez refused when Diddy offered him a money and said, ‘Don’t tell nobody.’

Bonner is suggesting that Diddy would want to avoid being directly asked about such accusations against him. But it doesn’t seem to sit right that he isn’t required to verbally answer to the accusations made against him.

Ventura – who has accused Diddy of constructing a pattern of control of abuse between them for a decade – testified that he was jealous of Mescudi and their relationship. Mescudi and Ventura were introduced by Diddy, and they soon started making music together and dated. Even after breaking up, they remained close, allegedly leading to Diddy feeling threatened during his own relationship with Ventura.

After discovering a burner phone that was presumably used for Ventura to contact Mescudi, she alleges that Diddy put a wine opener in his hands and lunged at her in reaction. Ventura also testified that she and Cudi broke up because Diddy threatened them both.

‘Sean said he was going to hurt the both of us,’ she said.‘I had broken off the relationship with Scott Mescudi, [there was] too much uncertainty if we continued to see each other,’ she confirmed during her testimony last week.

Ventura filed a lawsuit back in 2023 which alleged that Diddy threatened to ‘blow up’ Cudi’s car and ‘around that time, Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway’. Cudi’s representatives confirmed this sequence of events to the New York Times that same year. ‘This is all true,’ a spokesperson said.

Hasn’t Ventura done enough to prove herself to the legal world? Why shouldn’t Diddy have to do the same? Could it potentially be that easy for him to avoid being asked direct questions when it comes to the awful things he’s been accused of?

Of course, this is only a legal expert’s prediction, and events may shift that lead Diddy to testify. But the legal system as it stands means he doesn’t have to.

USA Today has described the extensive list of celebrity names connected to the trial as a ‘a who’s who of Hollywood and music elite’. It includes rappers Kid Cudi and Yung Miami, Kanye West, comedian Mike Myers, Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams, Dallas Austin, Lauren London, Dawn Richard and, of course, Ventura herself.

His trial is meant to last eight to 10 weeks, running Monday to Friday, so seeing as it started on 5 May, there’s still time for a Diddy testimony – even if an arguably sexist legal system may be able to protect him to a certain extent.