Last year, following Sean “Diddy” Combs’s indictment on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, all of the disgraced mogul’s celebrity friendships were pushed into the spotlight. People dissected old photos from Combs’s infamous White Parties and Ashton Kutcher’s friendship with Combs was put under a microscope. Meanwhile, many began to wonder what Combs was doing hanging out so much with an underage Justin Bieber.
Amid a federal indictment and a spate of civil suits accusing Combs of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and abuse, speculation about Combs and Bieber’s relationship ran rampant. The pair hung out publicly several times while Bieber was a minor, often in front of cameras. Several videos of them went viral in the wake of Combs’s arrest, including one of Combs and then-15-year-old Bieber, in which Combs tells the camera, “Where we hanging out and what we doing, we can’t really disclose, but it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream.” The footage prompted concern about the nature of Bieber’s involvement in Combs’s circle.
Amid the chatter, Bieber didn’t publicly address his relationship with the disgraced mogul. But on Thursday, with Combs presently on trial in Manhattan, he released a statement about the allegations.
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“Although Justin is not among Sean Combs’s victims, there are individuals who were genuinely harmed by him,” a spokesperson for Bieber told TMZ. “Shifting focus away from this reality detracts from the justice these victims rightfully deserve.”
Anonymous sources told the gossip site that Bieber never had that much of a relationship with Combs and that their appearances together were “performative.” They claimed that Bieber was actually just friends with Combs’s sons Quincy and Justin.
After Combs’s indictment, sources reportedly close to Bieber gave varying opinions about how the singer was reacting to the news. People reported that Bieber was “aware of Diddy’s arrest and all the allegations” but “wants to focus on being a great dad and husband” and had been “in a happy bubble” since the arrival of his son in August. Meanwhile, a different source told Us Weekly that Bieber was “completely disgusted” by the revelations about Combs and that the scandal had put the singer “in a hard place mentally.”
Now, amid widespread concern for his well-being, it seems like Bieber is just trying to distance himself from the whole situation. That’s probably best for everyone involved?
