Sean “Diddy” Combs auditioned to play James Brown in the 2014 Universal biopic “Get on Up,” it was revealed in the hip-hop mogul’s sex trafficking trial. The part ultimately went to Chadwick Boseman.
Combs’ interest in the role was revealed during the cross-examination of “Mia,” one of his former assistants who has accused him of rape and sexual assault. She is testifying under a pseudonym. Various text messages between Mia and Combs were shown to the court as evidence. In one August 2020 message, Mia wrote, “Thinking of you with Chadwick Boseman,” in reference to the actor’s death. She then said that Combs was “auditioning for the role” of James Brown.
In her message, Mia said she had Combs’ audition tape and would send it to him. It sounded like a high-budget bid for the role, as Mia described the audition tape as a “production” that they put on for a week.
In other texts to Combs, Mia described some of the “magical, hilarious” memories they shared. One story involved Mick Jagger apparently hitting on Mia, and another described a high-stakes poker game between Combs and Leonardo DiCaprio. According to Mia’s text, Combs said at the time, “That ‘Titanic’ motherfucker doesn’t know shit. He won $10,000. I won $650,000.”
Throughout her eight years working for Combs, Mia described alleged violence and sexual assault. “The highs were really high, and the lows were really low,” she has said repeatedly on the stand. She said she did not want to tell anybody about the alleged rape and “wanted to die with it,” adding that she was “brainwashed” by Combs and was “constantly seeking his approval” even after she stopped working for him.
Last week, Mia testified that Combs once slammed her arm in a commercial-grade door repeatedly. Another time, he allegedly threw her against a wall while beating his girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. And one year at Burning Man, he forced Mia to take ketamine. Mia said she suffers from “severe PTSD” from her time working for Combs, and that the alleged rape is “the worst and most shameful thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Combs is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
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From Variety US