Kid Cudi says Diddy broke into his home, unwrapped his family’s Christmas gifts, and shut his dog in the bathroom
The rapper Kid Cudi outside Manhattan federal court before he was called to testify in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial.
The rapper Kid Cudi told a Manhattan federal jury on Thursday that Sean “Diddy” Combs broke into his Los Angeles home after the hip-hop mogul found out he was dating the R&B singer Cassie Ventura.
Christmas gifts from Chanel that Kid Cudi planned to give to his family were unwrapped and opened, and his dog was shut in the bathroom during the December 2011 break-in, he testified at Combs’ sex-trafficking and racketeering trial.
Kid Cudi, whose given name is Scott Mescudi, was called as a government witness in the trial, which is in its second week of testimony.
Mescudi said he learned of the break-in in real time, the morning after spending the night with Ventura at the Sunset Marquis hotel.
He told jurors that one of Combs’ trusted assistants, Capricorn Clark, called to say that she was outside Mescudi’s house — and that Combs was inside. Clark told him that Combs had “forced her physically” to drive there with him, Mescudi said.
“Motherfucker, you in my house?” Mescudi recalled telling Combs over the phone as he rushed to the home in the Hollywood Hills.
“He said he wants to talk to me,” Mescudi said of Combs’ response during the phone call. “I said, ‘I’m on my way over right now.'”
“And he said, ‘I’m over here waiting for you,'” Mescudi told the jury, adding that Combs sounded “calm.”
Mescudi added, “I wanted to confront him, I wanted to fight him,” but he said he feared Combs might not be alone for any actual confrontation.
Kid Cudi, left, and Cassie Ventura, center, have taken the witness stand in Combs’ criminal trial.
By the time he returned, Combs was nowhere to be found, Mescudi said.
“Some gifts that I had brought for my family had been opened,” Mescudi testified of what he found inside. “And then my dog was in my bathroom.”
He said his dog was acting “very jittery.”
Prosecutors were barred by the judge from asking Mescudi for any details about lasting changes in the dog’s behavior after the break-in — including that it persisted in urinating on the floor.
“There are some dog lovers, potentially, on the jury,” the defense lawyer Brian Steel complained to the judge, prior to Mescudi and the jurors entering the courtroom.
“I agree,” US District Judge Arun Subramanian told the defense.
“It’s a serious issue,” the judge said. “I’ll stop any answers that are about the long-term consequences to the dog.”
Mescudi and Ventura — the prosecution’s star witness in Combs’ trial — briefly dated in 2011, while Ventura was on a break from Combs. Ventura and Combs dated on and off between 2007 and 2018.
Mescudi told jurors that Combs reached out to him a couple of times.
“I guess he was in the dark about things and wanted to talk,” Mescudi said.
But Mescudi said he told Combs, “You broke into my house, you messed with my dog — I don’t want to talk to you.”
During Ventura’s more than 20 hours of testimony last week, she told the eight-man, four-woman jury how her 2011 romance with Mescudi enraged Combs — and that he wanted to set fire to his car.
A prosecution evidence photo from Combs’ sex-trafficking and racketeering trial shows the interior of Kid Cudi’s firebombed convertible Porsche.
Mescudi said his Porsche was torched while parked in his driveway
Mescudi testified on Thursday that his Porsche had indeed been firebombed weeks after the break-in, while he wasn’t home and it was parked in his driveway.
“Looks like the top of my Porsche was cut open. That’s where they inserted the Molotov cocktail,” Mescudi told jurors as they were shown photos of his torched blue convertible.
A day or so after the firebombing, the rival rappers agreed to meet and settle their differences at the Soho House West Hollywood, Mescudi said.
“After the fire, I was like, this is getting out of hand,” he said.
Mescudi recalled being escorted by a Combs security guard into a conference room high above Beverly Hills. One wall was “all windows,” he remembered.
“Sean Combs was standing there, staring out the window with his hands behind his back like a Marvel super villain,” Mescudi said, prompting a burst of laughter in the courtroom.
“Yeah. It was just me and him in the room. No security, nobody,” he added.
He said the two men talked about how Ventura had told each of them that their relationships were exclusive.
“His whole point was, you know, we were homies,” Mescudi said of Combs. “I let him know that, you know, she told me they were broken up, and I took her word for it.”
It was “weird” and “off-putting” that Combs was so calm, Mescudi testified.
Sometime into the meeting, Ventura joined the two men in the room. “I was upset to find out that she had kind of went back to him,” Mescudi said.
He said the meeting ended with a handshake.
“As I was shaking his hand, I said, “What are we going to do about my car?” Mescudi told the jury.
“I made sure to ask him right when our hands were clasped together, where he couldn’t run away and I could look him square in the eyes,” Mescudi said.
“And he looked right back at me — very cold stare — and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,'” Mescudi testified.
“That’s your word?” he recalled asking Combs while taking his hand away. “He said, ‘Yeah.'”
Ventura’s 2023 lawsuit against Combs, now settled, first suggested that Combs was responsible for the 2012 firebombing.
Prosecutors have alleged that Combs previously ordered his underlings to torch a car using a Molotov cocktail.
Combs faces life in prison if the jury convicts him on sex trafficking charges tied to Ventura and another woman.
During his testimony, Mescudi told the jury that he had strong feelings for Ventura but that they broke it off because “the drama was just getting out of hand.”
“Kind of wanted to give her some space. The break-in and everything,” Mescudi testified. “Just felt like things were getting out of hand. For my safety, for her safety.”
“I knew Sean Combs was violent,” Mescudi said.
Mescudi said he saw Combs a couple of years later at the Soho House.
“He pulled me to the side and basically said, ‘Man I just want to apologize for everything and all that bullshit,'” Mescudi said.
“I found peace with it — that was the last thing I was expecting of him,” said Mescudi.
This story was updated with additional details from Mescudi’s testimony.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support. “Kind of wanted to give her some space. The break-in and everything,” Mescudi testified. “Just felt like things were getting out of hand. For my safety, for her safety.”
“I knew Sean Combs was violent,” Mescudi said.
Mescudi said he saw Combs a couple of years later at the Soho House.
“He pulled me to the side and basically said, ‘Man I just want to apologize for everything and all that bullshit,'” Mescudi said.
“I found peace with it — that was the last thing I was expecting of him,” said Mescudi.
This story was updated with additional details from Mescudi’s testimony.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support.
