Warning: This article includes discussion of rape and sexual assault allegations, which some readers may find distressing.
Usher has said he has nothing ‘negative to say’ about Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, despite the musician and businessman’s conviction.
Combs was arrested in September 2024 and faced multiple charges, including sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, as well as racketeering conspiracy.
He was ultimately found guilty of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution, while being acquitted of the remaining charges.
Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced Combs to 50 months in prison. He is serving the term at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Facility in New Jersey, reported to hold around 4,000 inmates. Combs has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual assault and misconduct made against him.
Over the years, Combs collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Usher. Usher’s self-titled debut album in 1994 listed Combs among its co-producers.
Speaking in a recent interview, Usher offered a supportive view of Combs and argued that the conviction shouldn’t erase what he accomplished during his time in music.
“I think certain people are prosecuted and maybe not recognized for the greatness that they offer,” the 47-year-old star declared in an interview for Forbes. “I don’t have anything negative to say about Sean Combs. My experience was not what the world has seen and how he’s been, you know, misrepresented.”
Usher also stressed that he wasn’t excusing any alleged wrongdoing, but said he believes Combs’ impact on the industry should still be acknowledged.
“I’m not saying that every man is perfect,” he continued. “I’m not saying that all of us don’t have flaws, 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 people who transition culture and ideas into something that’s tangible. SO many people benefited from what he created. And I acknowledge that. That’s why I see him as legacy.”
Usher was still a teenager when he began working with the producer in 1994, and he has previously said he also lived with Combs around that time.
“Puff was a mentor above… I think that the idea of the level of discipline came with that time in business, especially in an era that was trying to prove itself culturally in hip-hop,” he continued. “Now, you can’t turn on the television and not see the influence of hip-hop. The people who actually made that appropriate and are the forefathers are people like Sean Combs. Not just in the great times that they had, musically, but in the idea of being able to find ways to monetize culture and create something that was not just black or white, it was colorless.”