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Spotify, SoundCloud and other tech platforms have worked to remove a new song from Ye that praises Adolf Hitler, but the song and its video have continued to proliferate online including across X, where it has racked up millions of views.

On various mainstream and alternative tech platforms this week, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has been able to share his latest song, titled “Heil Hitler,” along with its companion title, “WW3,” which similarly glorifies Hitler, the architect of the Holocaust.

While some platforms have taken steps to attempt to pull down the song, others have seemingly let it spread freely.

The continued spread of the song and the varying approaches to moderation exemplify an increasingly fractured environment online and on social media, where some platforms have pulled back on their moderation practices in recent years, while others have tried to maintain higher standards when it comes to hate speech.

Elon Musk’s X is where the song has found its biggest audience.

On Thursday, Ye uploaded a video for the song on X, where it remained up as of Friday evening and received more than 6.5 million views. At least 12,000 users and a handful of right-wing influencers quickly shared the clip on their pages. Ye’s most recent repost is of a video mixing historical clips of Hitler together with his song as a backing track. He also shared a video on X of influencer Andrew Tate — a self-described misogynist — playing the song in his car. That video has been viewed over 3 million times.

Ye’s account is verified as an organization on X, meaning it could be eligible for monetization and ads. It’s not clear if Ye’s account uses those features.

The proliferation of the song, despite its invocation of Hitler, is the latest illustration of the power that social media platforms have handed over to some highly followed celebrities and influencers, and their inability or unwillingness to control the spread of some content after it’s been published. While Ye did not appear to attempt to upload the song to other social media platforms, other people have reposted the video.

On Facebook, NBC News found over a dozen reuploads of the “Heil Hitler” music video, and on YouTube half a dozen reuploads of the song that had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. On TikTok, a handful of reuploads had been posted using the hashtag #hh.

X, Meta, TikTok and YouTube all have hate speech or hateful conduct policies that generally forbid speech targeting a specific group for their race, or hateful invocations of genocide. X and Meta did not respond to requests for comment. A YouTube spokesperson said, “We removed the content and will continue to take down reuploads,” noting that accounts associated with Ye are ineligible for monetization.

Ye was briefly able to upload the song to the popular music streaming services Spotify and SoundCloud.

The presence of the song on Spotify prompted a petition campaign from the Anti-Defamation League calling for its removal.

In a statement, Daniel Kelley, director of strategy and operations at the ADL, said: “Spotify has been mostly radio silent to outreach from ADL for the majority of 2025, so we felt it was important to activate our volunteer base to pressure them to act on the platform’s stated policies.”

Kelley said Spotify didn’t respond to their outreach, but appears to have removed the song. “WW3,” which contains lyrics glorifying Nazis, is still up on the platform.

But some users have circumvented Spotify’s removal of the song, uploading it to Spotify’s podcast section or uploading re-recorded cover versions of the song.

SoundCloud appeared to remove versions of the song linked to by Ye on his X account, but NBC News located 27 reuploads or remixed versions of the song on the platform.

Spotify and SoundCloud did not respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, Ye posted on X that he had found a new music streaming hub for his song called Scrybe — linking to a website with links to download pages for the app on Google’s and Apple’s app stores. The small music streaming app bills itself as catering to indie musicians, with the tagline, “More Money for the Artist, Less Money for the Fan.”

On the app, Ye’s songs are all labeled as trending. Scrybe did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security on Saturday suggested the Trump administration could pursue arrests of the House Democrats involved in an incident at a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility on Friday and accused them of assaulting ICE officers.

“I think that we should let viewers know there will likely be more coming,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN on Saturday morning.

“We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body-slamming a female ICE officer,” McLaughlin said.

Her comments were in response to a question from CNN’s Victor Blackwell, who asked whether others were arrested Friday in addition to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was charged with trespassing.

Asked whether that meant a member of Congress could be arrested in connection with Friday’s events, McLaughlin told Blackwell, “This is an ongoing investigation, and that is definitely on the table.”

She added that ICE was in possession of video evidence documenting the incident.

Later on Saturday, McLaughlin posted a video on X showing chaos outside of the detention facility, writing, “We will not tolerate assault against our ICE law enforcement agents. By members of Congress or anyone else.”

Her remarks came one day after three members of Congress — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats — visited the Delaney Hall detention facility to conduct oversight, according to statements from two of the lawmakers.

“As Members of Congress, we have a legal right to conduct oversight at any DHS facility without prior notice, as we have already done twice this year. Throughout every step of this visit, ICE attempted to intimidate everyone involved and impede our ability to conduct oversight,” Menendez said in a statement Friday. “This is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I am shocked and disturbed that something like this happened in our community.”

And McIver said in a statement that the lawmakers were met with “contempt, disrespect, and aggression from ICE.”

“From roughing up members of congress to arresting the mayor of our state’s largest city, there is no version of today that does not show the blatant abuses of power of the Trump administration,” she added.

None of the three members of Congress mentioned seeing any kind of violence against ICE officers during their visit to the facility.

And in a post on X on Saturday, Watson Coleman denied McLaughlin’s allegations, writing, “The notion that I or any of my colleagues ‘body slammed’ armed federal officers is absurd. DHS is lying because they know their agents were out of line.”

“They have to resort to lies because their conduct is indefensible on the merits. They can threaten us all they like, but their lies are still lies. We will not be intimidated,” the congresswoman added.

A spokesperson for DHS referred NBC News to the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey for comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney, Alina Habba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spokespeople for Menendez and McIver also did not immediately respond to a request for comment about McLaughlin’s remarks.

Baraka appeared on CNN directly after McLaughlin and called her allegations of assault “ridiculous.”

“I’m waiting for them to show a video,” he added.

Baraka pointed out that Watson Coleman, 80, is an older woman, “who probably couldn’t lift any of them.”

“None of those people body-slammed any officer,” Baraka added.

The Newark mayor also denied the charges that he was arrested on on Friday, telling Blackwell, “I was not trespassing at all. I mean, we’re in court, so we’ll argue that in the court.”

CHICLAYO, Peru — Walkiria Garcia was 14 years old when she made her confirmation in the Catholic Church, an already significant religious sacrament made even more unforgettable by the man officiating it, Robert Prevost, who a decade later would become Pope Leo XIV.

To many Peruvians, however, Leo is more than the first pope from the U.S. He is also the first Peruvian pope.

Pope Leo, born on the South Side of Chicago, first arrived in Peru in 1985 as a missionary. For 10 years, he taught canon law in Trujillo, immersing himself in the local culture and community.

Though he returned to Chicago to lead the Augustinian order in the Midwest, he couldn’t stay away for too long. In 2014, he moved to Chiclayo, Peru, where he served as an apostolic administrator, bishop and later archbishop. He even became a naturalized Peruvian citizen in 2015.

Now, Garcia has one message for the new pontiff: “Don’t change.”

Garcia, now 24, recalls her first encounter with Leo at her Augustinian school, saying she felt like he was more of a friend than an authority figure.

That’s because Leo was “fun,” and was frequently seen playing games with the students in addition to speaking to them about religious topics.

Garcia said the former bishop shared messages of love and openness with the students, in line with their Augustinian beliefs.

“We can always return and we can always change our life,” Garcia said.

Leo’s deep bond with Peruvians is rooted in his embrace of their customs. Garcia fondly remembers seeing him at cultural festivals, serving food and participating in traditions. “He was Peruvian,” Garcia said.

In his first speech as pope, Leo expressed gratitude to the people of Chiclayo, highlighting the city’s influence on his journey.

Garcia connected with Leo again in a chance encounter during a 2021 flight, where they reminisced about her confirmation and school days.

Garcia hopes that Leo will “follow the Francis message,” continuing to “love all people” and embracing members of the LGBTQ community. She would like to see him continue his work with children and young adults, just as he did in Chiclayo.

“He is our first Peruvian pope,” Garcia said.

Stephanie Gosk reported from Chiclayo, Peru, and Viola Flowers reported from New York City.

The jockey who rode Sovereignty to victory at the Kentucky Derby last week has been fined over $60,000 for striking the horse with his riding crop too many times during the race, according to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

Junior Alvarado was found to have struck the horse with his riding crop “more than the permitted amount” during last week’s race, violating the authority’s rules, it said in a statement Saturday.

A penalty was imposed against Alvarado on Friday for committing the Class 3 violation and he was hit with a fine equating to 10% of his $310,000 winnings, the statement said. The fine was then doubled “pursuant to an escalating penalty structure for repeat riding crop violations within the previous 180 days,” resulting in a $62,000 fine, according to HISA.

Alvarado was found to have struck Sovereignty eight times during the Kentucky Derby, which was his second offense in 180 days, per a HISA ruling. HISA protocol allows jockeys to strike horses a maximum of six times during a race.

The jockey was also suspended for two Kentucky racing days, May 29 and 30, as a result of the violation.

According to HISA, riding crop penalties can be appealed via hearing before the Internal Adjudication Panel. Alvarado did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alvarado now has 30 days to pay the fine.

The jockey and Sovereignty won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby last Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Following the race, Alvarado, who grew up in Venezuela, said winning the Derby was a dream of his since he was a child.

The jockey suffered a shoulder injury and a fall ahead of the race, but went on to win despite the odds.

Notorious California serial killer Randy Kraft has been identified as the suspect in the murder of a man almost 45 years ago, police said Friday.

Larry Eugene Parks, 30, was found dead along Interstate 5 on the morning of July 18, 1980, in Oregon, according to the Oregon State Police. An investigation into his death was opened, but Parks remained a John Doe until just last month, after an investigator from the sheriff’s department in Orange County, California, offered to help identify him using forensic genealogy in 2024.

Kraft, who remains incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, was convicted of brutalizing and killing 16 men during a decadelong series of slayings in Orange County, California, that ended with his arrest. The convicted murderer is also suspected of committing over 60 murders across the West Coast and Michigan, police said.

To identify Parks as another potential victim, a genetic profile was created using a sample of his blood, which helped investigators find and contact possible family members. They submitted DNA, leading to his identification. Parks was a Vietnam veteran and had lost contact with his family a year before his death.

“Until his identification last month, the circumstances of his disappearance were unknown to the Parks family,” police said.

Police believe Kraft, who was arrested in Orange County, California, in 1983, is responsible for Parks’ death. Evidence from the murder, along with the murder of another man who was also found on I-5 the day before Parks, was transferred to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to be used in court, but remained in the county until 2024, when the investigator set out to identify the 30-year-old, according to police.

“With Parks’ identity confirmed, investigators are now working to bring resolution to the 45-year-old case,” police said.

In 2023, an Iowa teen believed to have been one of Kraft’s earliest victims was also identified using genealogy.

Just days after making history as the first American Pope, Illinois native Pope Leo XIV is preparing for a reunion with his siblings in Rome, where his brother John Prevost will join him to celebrate this unprecedented moment for the Catholic Church and Chicago alike.

Pope Leo was elected following the 2025 papal conclave on Thursday, with the Dolton native becoming the first-ever American-born pope in the church’s history.

The unexpected travel to Rome marks the fifth time Prevost has traveled to the Italian capital. Two of those trips were with his brother, who is now the global leader of the Catholic Church.

Prevost told NBC Chicago he informed his brother about the trip in a brief phone call.

“I told him we were coming. He said, ‘Oh, okay,’” Prevost said.

Prevost reflected on the pride tied to his brother’s historic achievement, while acknowledging the challenges. He noted that his parents would be “happy and ecstatic” about Pope Leo’s role.

“That’s the thing…look at the ‘first’ that we are here. First from the United States, first from Chicago,” Prevost said.” He’s kind of young. Tremendous responsibility. The world will be watching his every step.”

As for his plans during the visit, Prevost said much remains up in the air.

“We’re waiting to see, we’re supposed to have lunch, we’re supposed to go somewhere. We get to travel with the Pope to some special place and we’ll just figure it out. Because we’re only here until Tuesday,” Prevost said.

Prevost said he does not plan to stay for Pope Leo’s installation.

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Saints veteran starting quarterback Derek Carr has decided to retire because of a labral tear in his right shoulder and “significant degenerative changes” to his rotator cuff, the team announced Saturday.

Carr, 34, has played for 11 pro seasons since being selected out of Fresno State by the then-Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft.

He was acquired by the Saints as a free agent in 2023 but had mixed results in New Orleans, going 14-13 as a starter while struggling through oblique, hand and head injuries that caused him to miss seven games last season.

Carr, who was entering the third year of a four-year, $150 million contract, experienced unexpected pain in his throwing shoulder when he began to ramp up training this offseason, which led to his diagnosis that now has cut short his career.

“Surgery was an option, jeopardizing the entire 2025 season, yet there was no guarantee Derek would return to the level of strength, function and performance of play to which he was accustomed,” the Saints said in a written announcement.

The Saints did not acknowledge Carr’s injury until the day before the draft. Carr did not speak publicly about the injury until a few days later, when he delivered a guest sermon at a Las Vegas church. In that sermon, Carr said his critics were “lying” about him when they questioned the unusual timing of the injury, as well as both the team’s and Carr’s initial reticence to address it openly or answer questions about it.

Carr has career passing totals of 41,245 yards, 257 touchdowns and 112 interceptions. He retires with a 77-92 regular-season record as a starter and without having won a playoff game.

Carr said he made the decision in consultation with his wife, Heather, and “upon reflection of prayer.”

“For more than 11 years, we have been incredibly blessed, and we are forever grateful and humbled by this experience,” Carr said. “It’s difficult to find the right words to express our thanks to all the teammates, coaches, management, ownership, team officials and especially the fans who made this journey so special.”

The decision also comes after New Orleans used a high second-round draft choice to select Louisville’s Tyler Shough as a potential future starting quarterback — although it remains to be seen how quickly he can be ready for that role.

Other QBs on the Saints’ roster include second-year pro Spencer Rattler and third-year player Jake Haener, who did post a victory between them in seven games last season, six of which Rattler started.

The most surprising series of the second round of the NBA playoffs so far is the one between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.

After the Celtics won the four games between the two teams in the regular season — with an average margin of victory of 16.3 points — the Knicks have raced out to a 2-0 lead in their postseason matchup. Not only did New York win two games on the road to start the series, the Knicks came back from 20-point deficits in the second halves of both games.

How is all this happening? NBC News’ Andrew Greif and Rohan Nadkarni break down the series so far, and what to expect moving forward.

Did the Knicks win the first two games or did the Celtics blow it?

Nadkarni: The real answer is it is a combination of both. At the same time, if we’re splitting up the accountability pie, the Celtics deserve more scorn for blowing the first two games.

Simply put, Boston has made only 25 of its 100 3-point attempts this series. If the Celtics were shooting only 30% — which would still be far below their regular-season average and by far the worst of any team in the NBA — they are probably up 2-0 in this series. I don’t want to get too reductive and say “make shots”… but also, make some shots!

Greif: This is Boston’s undoing, because while the Knicks have played with an undeniable resolve all postseason — multiple comebacks secured their first-round victory against Detroit, too — they’ve also been undeniably flawed.

Game 2 was New York’s worst offensive game of its season, as measured by points scored per possession, and it wasn’t exactly a shock for a team that is scoring 10 fewer points per 100 possessions in the playoffs than during the regular season. That’s a big drop, even when accounting for the seemingly annual trend of scoring dropping in the playoffs. Yet the Knicks have handed Boston two losses in a series for the first time since 2023, anyway.

Who is most to blame for the Celtics being down 2-0?

Greif: Shoddy late-game execution that is shouldered by everyone. Boston has given up 11 more field goals, made just 15 percent of its 3-pointers, and registered a meager 6-to-5 assist-to-turnover ratio in the fourth quarter.

With 18 seconds left in Game 2, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla designed a smart play to free star Jayson Tatum for a full sprint that turned into an easy dunk and 90-89 lead. But needing another go-ahead basket on the game’s final possession, Mazzulla went to the exact same play and the Knicks weren’t fooled. Tatum is shooting just 1-for-12 in the fourth quarter this series, while his co-star Jaylen Brown is 1-for-7.

Nadkarni: The buck has to stop with Boston’s best players, Tatum and Brown. Tatum is shooting under 30% from the field this series, and Brown isn’t doing much better, shooting under 40%. They have been inefficient, too 3-point happy, and aren’t making good decisions in crunch time.

Tatum especially needs to step up. Not because he’s not great, not because he has to prove he’s a superstar, but because he’s shown all these things already. Tatum is an incredibly accomplished playoff performer, and he’s had some big games in incredibly high-stakes moments. You wouldn’t know that from watching this series.

Can the Knicks keep this up?

Nadkarni: Almost definitely not, but they also don’t have to. There’s no rule that you have to win every game in a four-game series the same way. Even if the Celtics start hitting 3s, that doesn’t mean the Knicks can’t win this series.

I don’t expect New York to keep winning in the fashion it did in the first two games. It would be irresponsible to assume any team can keep creating 20-point deficits in the playoffs and come back to win every time. So I don’t believe the Knicks’ formula from the first two games is repeatable (even though they somehow repeated it after Game 1!), but that doesn’t mean they don’t have other ways to win.

Greif: This is fundamentally a question of what you trust more. Is it a two-game sample size that has seen the Knicks turn into a crunch-time monster — in fourth quarters this series, New York has made nine 3-pointers while Boston has made nine shots total — or their season-long body of evidence, which saw New York rank only around league average in “clutch” scenarios?

And do you view the Knicks, who are now 6-2 in the postseason against the 44-38 Pistons and 61-21 Celtics, as finally equipped to beat good teams, or the squad that went just 15-23 against teams with winning records during the regular season? They’ve captured lighting in a bottle and yet it still feels like the Celtics have a larger margin for error.

What is the Celtics’ path to winning the series?

Greif: Regression to the mean. Boston’s strategy of shooting many, many 3-pointers is nothing new, but rarely have they been this bad at it. When Celtics radio broadcaster Sean Grande dug into the numbers, he found that Games 1 and 2 marked just the second time in the last six years that the team had gone consecutive games shooting 25% or worse from 3. Will that level of shooting really sustain an entire series?

The other trend worth watching is that Boston has a .709 winning percentage on the road versus .589 at home during their last four postseasons. Playing in New York this weekend, then, might actually be a good thing.

Nadkarni: The Celtics’ path is to do what they’ve done for most of this series and pretty much all of the regular season: Overwhelm teams with their shooting talent while being stout at every position defensively. What the fourth-quarter comebacks obfuscate is that Boston has to build a 20-point lead in the first place! The Celtics have been able to dominate large portions of this series despite not shooting well at all.

Boston does not need to reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t even need to radically change its strategy, even if its frustrating watching 3s not fall after possessions with very minimal passing. But the Celtics are literally a couple shots a way from winning a series in which they’ve lost by four points combined over two games. The Cs need to stick to who they’ve been.

Biggest X factor in the series?

Nadkarni: Outside of the 3-point shooting, it’s what happening in the frontcourt. Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has been a huge plus this series, to the point Boston was desperately trying to intentionally foul him off the court in Game 2.

Meanwhile, Celtics’ center Kristaps Porzingis is dealing with a mysterious illness, and it’s made Boston much more reliant on Al Horford than it wants to be. Horford has been a steady pro for years, but he is not the offensive threat Porzingis is. Even if the center battle may not ultimately determine what happens in this series, it’s an important subplot under what’s transpired so far.

Greif: The eye test and the numbers suggest it’s Knicks big man Robinson. The Knicks have a 2-0 lead because of their defense, and when Robinson has been on the floor this series New York’s defense is 16 points better than when he sits.

But the Celtics’ Porzingis, who has played only 27 minutes because of a respiratory illness through two games, is my pick. He was a floor-raising catalyst during last year’s Celtics NBA championship but has been a shell of himself in this series, with nearly as many turnovers (two) as field goals (three). Porzingis tried to express confidence while saying that going down 0-2 “kind of takes all the pressure off of us,” but history doesn’t bear that out. Of the 463 playoff series in NBA history to start 2-0, only 34 trailing teams have eventually come back to win.

ATLANTA — An earthquake of 4.1 preliminary magnitude was reported Saturday morning in Tennessee and was felt in Atlanta, Georgia, and western North Carolina, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and local news reports.

The website for USGS said the earthquake originated shortly after 9 a.m. EDT about 12 miles from Greenback, Tennessee, which is about 30 miles south of Knoxville.

Meteorologists at television news stations serving Georgia and North Carolina reported feeling the tremors as well.

This is a developing story. Please check back for more.

Sean “Diddy” Combs was once the life of the party. He was known for hosting lavish and exclusive gatherings in the Hamptons, having seemingly countless celebrity pals and toasting to the good life with powerful allies in the music industry.

Yet a question remains as opening statements approach next week in his federal sex-trafficking trial: Why haven’t more of his famous friends come to his defense?

“The music industry is fickle,” said Ramal “The Hometown Heat” Brown, a former hip-hop disc jockey at 105.3 KJAMZ in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Everyone wants to be around when you’re on top.”

But when a video of Combs beating his former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura was aired by CNN last year, “nobody wanted to be around because it could tarnish their image and name,” he said. “Being around Diddy could get you implicated in the case.”

After the video aired, Combs apologized publicly, saying his behavior in it was “inexcusable” and that he took full responsibility for his actions.

Combs is charged in a five-count indictment with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

Opening statements in the federal trial in Manhattan are expected to begin next week.

The government’s case centers on allegations that Combs forced women to participate in drug-fueled sexual encounters with male sex workers that he directed and filmed. He called the sex parties “freak offs,” prosecutors said.

In addition to the federal charges, Combs has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct in more than 50 civil lawsuits, including one filed by Ventura in 2023 that was privately settled within a day.

His attorney said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing, and Combs has vehemently denied the allegations in the pending civil suits.

The past year has seen a stark turn of events for the hitmaker, who has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards over three decades while turning unknown musicians, such as Ma$e, Total and Carl Thomas, into platinum-selling recording artists.

During jury selection last week, as the magnitude of the moment began to mount, Combs appeared to nervously look around the courtroom and asked U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian for a bathroom break.

No celebrity supporters have shown up in court during jury selection. Being associated with Combs and his federal case is risky and can only tarnish the burnished images of A-list celebrities, music experts said.

“People aren’t speaking out because they don’t want any level of implication,” said Gerrick Kennedy, a freelance journalist and culture critic based in Los Angeles. 

Madison Gray, a former website editor for Black Entertainment Television, said he thinks many of Combs’ associates have distanced themselves because of the heinous acts he’s accused of.

“Celebrity friends and powerful friends scatter. Nobody wants to be attached,” said Gray, pointing to similar scenarios when Bill Cosby and R. Kelly faced legal battles. “When things are good, the parties are great, the liquor is flowing. But as soon as something goes wrong, friendships are fleeting.”

Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has been one of Combs’ staunchest celebrity supporters leading up to the trial, defending him online on multiple occasions and accusing Ventura, who was once signed to Combs’ record label, of attempting to pressure him for money.

Ye accused Ventura of attempting to extort Combs in a since-deleted post on X on March 18.

Ventura responded the next day by resharing a post from the culture website Shade Room showing a screenshot of rapper Playboi Carti telling Ye to shut up. Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, declined to comment this week.

Ye’s comments came amid controversy over a slew of posts on X in which he made hate-filled remarks about the Jewish community and said “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi.”

Former in-house Bad Boy Records producer Stevie J has also expressed support for Combs, calling many of the civil lawsuits filed against his ex-boss “bogus” and saying he prays for Combs and his family every day.

“I never knew of an instance where you’ll be guilty before you even go to f—–g court,” he told the entertainment YouTube channel VladTV. “I’m never going to stop being there for someone I consider to be a friend. I’m not going to turn my back. I’ve been scrutinized just by being a friend. I guess someone has never had a true friend before.”

Singer Ray J has acknowledged attending Combs’ parties in multiple interviews but said he never saw any freak offs or orgies.

“I can guarantee you most of the celebrities that went to Diddy’s parties never even heard of a freak off,” he told News Nation host Chris Cuomo in November. “In the beginning it sounded really interesting and entertaining, I would say, but when you look back, where were the freak offs? From my knowledge, I’ve never seen a freak off.”

Ventura is expected to take the stand once the trial begins, but a witness list has not been released. Potential jurors this week received a list of places and names that might be mentioned during the trial, including celebrities such as Michael B. Jordan, Mike Myers and Ye, none of whom are implicated in the case.