Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former publicist has broken his silence amid the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial.
“I learned to look away. Looking away is part of the job. You compartmentalize [and] you rationalize,” Rob Shuter wrote in an essay for The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, June 18. “You focus on the next campaign, the next event, the next crisis to spin. And in those moments, you become what systems like these need to survive: silent.”
Shuter claimed that he thought many aspects of Diddy’s life weren’t “normal,” but he kept his head down for the sake of the job.
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“If he needed a favor, he’d make one call, and boom — it was done,” Shuter recalled of Diddy, now 55. “I told myself that was just power. Influence. Star-level access. But now? It feels like something darker.”
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He added, “What’s horrifying is how ordinary this becomes. It’s not that we saw a monster and did nothing. It’s that we saw a man — charming, charismatic, generous when it suited him — and ignored the signs that something more sinister might be underneath. Because asking those questions meant jeopardizing everything: access, reputation, money. So, we didn’t ask.”
Shuter claimed that he didn’t say anything because the style “worked for us until it didn’t.”
“There’s a cultural sickness at the heart of this — the tendency to mistake charisma for character, proximity for integrity, success for safety,” he wrote. “We put celebrities on pedestals and then we act surprised when the foundations crack. But the rot was there all along — buried beneath years of brand-building, PR campaigns, industry awards and glossy features. We just didn’t want to look.”
Looking back, Shuter admits that he “regrets [his] role” on Diddy’s team.
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“When I say I regret my role, I mean it. But regret isn’t enough,” added. “Accountability means naming the system — and naming your part in it. … If we helped build it, we can help break it.”
Diddy is currently on trial for charges pertaining to sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied every allegation against him.
“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo told Us Weekly in a September 2024 statement. “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community. He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
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