NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has warned a lawyer for music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs to tame his public comments now that the rapper’s sex trafficking trial is underway, saying it was “outrageous” that he referred to prosecutors during a podcast as a “six-pack of white women.”
A transcript of a robing room meeting on Tuesday contained the conversation between Judge Arun Subramanian and attorney Mark Geragos.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, far left, looks on from the defense table with his attorneys, as a prospective juror, far right, answers questions posed by Judge Arun Subramanian, center, at Manhattan federal court, Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
On Friday, the judge granted a request by defense lawyers to delay until Monday the final step in the jury selection process, expected to last less than an hour. Prosecutors unsuccessfully objected.
MORE | Diddy ‘a little nervous’ as jury selection gets underway in trial
The possible jurors were not present on Friday as federal prosecutors and lawyers assembled in a Manhattan courtroom, with Combs also present, to narrow a pool of 45 prospective jurors down to a jury of 12 and six alternates who will hear the two-month trial.
On Tuesday, prosecutors asked the judge to instruct Geragos to follow local rules limiting what attorneys say about the case while the trial is proceeding. They noted that Geragos had not filed a “notice of appearance” to represent him in court during the trial, but a jury consultant and the defense team seemed to consult with him.
Later in the day, the judge asked in the robing room meeting if Geragos, whose high-profile clients have included Michael Jackson and the Menendez brothers, was advising Combs “in any way, shape or form?”
Geragos responded that he represents the entertainer’s mother in a matter and has represented Combs and “I do talk with him with great — with great frequency.” The lawyer’s daughter, Teny Geragos, is a key member of Combs’ legal team.
When it seemed that Geragos was about to criticize prosecutors over the issue of pretrial publicity, the judge cut him off, saying: “Let’s just have some real talk.”
Then, the judge noted that Geragos had said on a recent “2 Angry Men” podcast he hosts with TMZ founder Mark Levin that the prosecution team was made up of six white women and he had referred to them as a “six-pack of white women.”
Subramanian then asked Geragos if he knew that was not something that anyone should say “as an officer of the court and a member of the bar.”
Geragos responded: “I think when you’ve got a black man who’s being prosecuted and the client feels like he’s being targeted, it’s a — it’s an observation.”
The judge repeated his point, saying: “I think this is ridiculous. I think referring to the prosecution in this case as a six-pack of white women is outrageous.”
Subramanian told Geragos, who has attended much of the jury selection process, that he would be observing and listening to him.
Attorney Mark Geragos, center, representing Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting their parents, speaks to the media outside of court after a resentencing hearing in their case, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
“You have one more listener for your podcast,” the judge said.
“As long as you subscribe, I’m all for it,” Geragos shot back.
Before the trial, Combs’ lawyers blamed “false inflammatory statements” by federal agents and Combs’ fame for “a pervasive ripple effect, resulting in a torrent of allegations by unidentified complainants, spanning from the false to outright absurd.”
They said dozens of lawsuits filed against Combs in the last year and their “swirling allegations have created a hysterical media circus that, if left unchecked, will irreparably deprive Mr. Combs of a fair trial, if they haven’t already.”
For three days this week, would-be jurors had been asked questions to help the judge and lawyers determine if they could be fair and impartial. And they were also questioned to ensure they could decide the case on the facts, even after seeing explicit videos of sexual activity that some might find disturbing.
On Monday, prosecutors will be permitted to strike six prospective jurors from the jury while defense lawyers were allowed 10 strikes before the jury is finalized. Generally, lawyers do not have to explain why they are ejecting individuals from the panel. The process was expected to take up to an hour.
If Combs is convicted on all charges, which include racketeering, kidnapping, arson, bribery and sex trafficking, he would face a mandatory 15 years in prison and could remain behind bars for life.
Prosecutors allege that the Bad Boy Records founder used his fame and power at the top of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse women from 2004 to 2024.
An indictment includes descriptions of “Freak Offs,” drugged-up orgies in which women were forced to have sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them.
The charges against him also portray Combs as abusive to his victims, sometimes choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair. Once, the indictment alleges, he even dangled someone from a balcony.
His lawyers contend that prosecutors are trying to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults. They concede that Combs had abused various substances but say he has undergone treatment.
A centerpiece of the evidence against him are recordings of Combs beating a longtime girlfriend in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
After a video of the encounter aired on CNN last year, Combs apologized, saying, “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
Numerous prospective jurors interviewed by the judge this week said they had seen the video and some were deemed to be too affected by it to be impartial and remain in the jury pool.
