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Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, throngs of trial rubberneckers and Sean “Diddy” Combs supporters gathered outside the downtown Manhattan federal courthouse in response to the jury’s bombshell verdict that found him guilty of transportation for prostitution but not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. The sidewalk on Worth Street became packed with a mix of innocuous onlookers, semi-agitated social-media hopefuls, and emotionally disturbed persons within an hour after Diddy learned his fate.
Police urged those in attendance to stay off the street, but movement was limited given how crammed the sidewalk had become. One man carried a flag that said “Justice for Britney” as a woman in a patterned bathing-suit top and white men’s briefs walked nearby. “I’m the Britney Spears dude. I’m going to save Britney and free Britney for real this time,” the man said. “The people controlling Diddy’s finances are holding Britney in a court-sealed care plan, and I’m calling them out. Diddy’s the fall guy for them.”
Dozens milled around the plaza between the Worth Street courthouse entrance and the back of the 60 Centre Street courthouse. Here, the party atmosphere came into sharper relief. A crowd cheered when Diddy’s mother was spotted near the door of the courthouse. “I told you! I told you!” a man could be heard shouting in the background. Chants of “Free Puff! Free Puff! Free Puff!” rang out as several raised their fists in support. Diddy’s mom responded in kind, waving her hand and blowing kisses to the crowd. One thought of Madonna’s Eva Perón greeting devotees in Evita.
A man in a purple fedora, who’s been milling outside court during the trial with a selfie stick and attached smartphone, exchanged hearty laughs with a muscular man in a white tank top. A woman shouted, “Bring the oil out!,” referencing the baby-oil evidence from the “Freak Off” parties — and then it was brought out. The man in the tank top pulled off his shirt and danced with his apparent new friend in the fedora as a smartphone-donning crowd encircled them. Then, the man wearing the fedora poured baby oil on the other man’s chest and back as some in the crowd rubbed their hands over the oilee’s half-naked body.
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