Former daytime-talk staple Wendy Williams is no longer on air, but that hasn’t stopped her from weighing in on one of the music industry’s most damning scandals in recent years.
The host of “The Wendy Williams Show” — who has shied away from the spotlight since before her aphasia diagnosis — weighed in on Sean “Diddy” Combs and the scathing allegations that have upended his public image in the past year. In an interview published weeks after Combs’ arrest, Williams said she wasn’t surprised by the disgraced mogul’s legal woes.
“I have been told by so many people, ‘Wendy you called it,’ ” Williams, 60, told the Daily Mail in an conversation published Tuesday.
Days after Combs’ Sept. 16 arrest in New York, numerous fans on social media wondered how Williams would have reacted to the news on her now-canceled talk series. While one fan joked that she would ask audiences to “clap if you think Diddy did it,” others recalled that Williams had long been critical of Combs. Even before his arrest, Williams’ tensions with the Bad Boy Records founder had resurfaced, spawning articles that reexamined her previous comments.
In November 2023, a civil suit from Combs’ ex-girlfriend and singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura was the first to accuse the rap star of rape and sexual assault, among other offenses.
Though settled swiftly, her lawsuit opened the floodgates for additional complaints and disturbing allegations of a decades-long history of sexual assault. Combs was arrested last month amid a sweeping federal probe into allegations of sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges: three counts of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
On Tuesday, attorney Tony Buzbee said in a news conference that Combs will soon face an additional lawsuit with allegations from more than 100 accusers, some of whom where minors at the time of the alleged offenses.
Williams also spoke about disturbing video footage that shows Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
“You know how I feel about that? It is about time,” she told Daily Mail, adding that the footage “was just horrific.”
She continued: “But now you have to think, how many more times? How many people? How many more women? It’s just so horrible.”
Combs, despite his legal team’s efforts to secure his release on bail, remains in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., as he awaits trial.