Music: Sean "P Diddy" Combs

[John Price]

 

[tarheelhockey]

He also got away with it because like Weinstein the reality is much of industry and celebritiy world he was part of didn't care or indulged in behaviors as well

They will come out and act like they are upset, shocked or outraged as if they weren't at his parties for years and didn't laugh and make jokes of what was open secret thru years (Remember Hollywood for years made jokes about Weinstein rep and stories before pretending they didn't)

Diddy stuff isn't coming out of nowhere. It's been widely talked about for years but people didn't care. Musicians and celebs were still going to his parties, hanging out with him, etc

Its only now it's come to forefront publicly thanks to Cassie (Video of beating helped further bring attention to him) and likely others going to police and prosecutors opening actual investigations

Weinstein in particular was a really egregious case of everyone joking about it and nothing being done to stop it. So many people knew about him and made references to him that it was practically a meme.

It definitely puts a spotlight on the fact that Hollywood (and for that matter Washington) is full of people who just shrug their shoulders and say “whaddaya gonna do” while witnessing serial criminals take advantage of helpless bystanders. In both cities the culture is all about being too powerful to be told “no”.

 

[93gilmour93]

 

[Babe Ruth]

That’s a very specific worldview that nobody is going to talk you out of.

For most people, getting into deep legal shit can be as simple as your long-time gf cooperating with the FBI to take you down. Call that “institutional power” if you like, but the mechanism is little different than a common thug getting ratted out.




LOL what? Everyone knew he was a piece of shit. What are you talking about?



It’s not that difficult to understand. From a law enforcement perspective, there has to be a willingness by victims to press charges and an ability to bring irrefutable evidence to the table. Accusing a powerful person of rape without any evidence beyond the words of one witness is prosecutorial incompetence. There needs to be enough substance to get a conviction, not just charges.

Combs was accused of sexual misconduct back in 2017 and settled out of court. Cosby was accused of rape back in 2004 and settled out of court. Weinstein settled with at least EIGHT accusers to make their accusations go away.

When that happens, any potential criminal case stops in its tracks. The settlement specifically stops the victim from pressing charges or going public, so law enforcement no longer has a basis for bringing charges (and even if they did, they have an uncooperative witness providing zero evidence). And other victims see the offender walking scot free like nothing ever happened, while the accuser gets intimidated and blacklisted. Ordinary people don’t stand a chance of getting justice in this dynamic, and we all know it.

The floodgates open when that dynamic gets avoided altogether — for example, when the sheer number of rapes that Weinstein committed becomes so publicly understood that major news networks start building landmark exposees with dozens of witnesses, or when someone close to the offender is willing and able to drop a mountain of evidence and insist on charges. That’s what happened to all three of these guys, they finally saw the day when a civil settlement was not on the table as an option.

You better believe there are a ton of others in Hollywood who are one motivated accuser away from jail time. They’re not protected by some shadowy institution, unless you consider lawyers an “institution”. They’re protected by their ability to suppress accusations outside of court.

I never implied it was a "shadowy institution". I characterize it as media collusion. What you're doing is snidely attributing an angle I never implied.
People in the music industry & mainstream media knew about the crimes of Cosby & Diddy for years. For years they chose not to reveal, or aggressively investigate, the allegations. Now they are.. I don't believe it was a natural tipping point, I believe there are motivated individual enemies within the media and/or judicial system who tip the scales. Then when it's career risk-free, reporters finally dogpile on these guys. It's not a shadowy conspiracy.

It's strange how dismissive this forum is when someone has a different take on topics. It often is a rude echo chamber here.