Usher is speaking out in defense of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
While playing a word association game in a Forbes interview published Wednesday, Usher said that “legacy” came to mind when he thought of Combs, who is currently serving a 50-month sentence after he was convicted on two counts of transportation for prostitution following a bombshell eight-week trial last summer.
The “Yeah!” singer said that although his opinion “might be controversial,” the influence that Combs, 56, created through his business empire was undeniable.
“In many ways, I think certain people are prosecuted and maybe not recognized for the greatness that they offer,” Usher, 47, said. “I don't have anything negative to say about Sean Combs because my experience was not what the world has seen and how he’s been misrepresented.”
He continued: “I’m not saying that every man is perfect. I’m not saying that all of us don’t have flaws. But I can’t, with any sense of humanity, not recognize the valuable contributions that this man made for us as Black entrepreneurs, for us as businessmen, for us as people who have transitioned culture and ideas into something that’s tangible and becomes business. So many people benefited from what he created. And I acknowledge that. And that’s why I see him as legacy,” the singer said.
Usher, who started working with Combs when he was a teenager, went on to praise the Bad Boys Records founder for being his “mentor” at the start of his career. He said he still admires Combs for “being able to find ways to monetize culture and create something that was not just Black or white. It was colorless. It was green.”
He concluded, “That’s who I see that man as. And that’s what I choose to remember. I put respect on his name because I realized that what I learned as a businessman before I even understood what business was came as a result of seeing the incredible things that he was able to do and the way that he positioned himself as a businessman.”
The “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” singer lived at Combs’s house in 1994 as the disgraced music mogul co-executive-produced his first album and helped craft his early image.
Combs was indicted on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution in September 2024. He was found guilty on two of the five counts. He has denied all allegations against him. The rapper is set to be released from prison April 25, 2028.
