In a no-holds-barred take, the former Detroit player-turned-TV judge Greg Mathis openly challenged the Hip-Hop mogul's realness in the street in response to Diddy's emerging legal woes. "Street guys don't respect him because they know he's never been in the street," Mathis said. "He was a kid, went to Catholic school, and then he got bullied. He got involved in one of these little gangs in New York. I believe they were in Harlem and didn't even commit the real crime."
Diddy's public image is wrapped up in something much more serious than rumors or reputations. He is the focus of a sprawling federal investigation into a sprawling array of offenses: racketeering, sex trafficking, kidnapping, arson, drug crimes, bribery, and obstructing justice. Prosecutors say he built a criminal enterprise by intimidating and abusing and, for years, opened the door to sexual and physical torment behind the scenes.
But Mathis isn't cowed by Diddy's supposed air of intimidation. Instead, he distinguishes between image and realness, and Diddy sells him a phony bill of goods.
"He made his name in music more on fear and association than anything else," Mathis said. "His father, who was murdered, was a major gangster in New York. And the way I see it, his mother, you know, she wasn't no joke."
After all, Diddy's father, Melvin Earl Combs, was a known Harlem drug figure with ties to the infamous kingpin Frank Lucas. He was shot and killed in 1972 when Diddy was a toddler. It may have cast a long shadow over his formative years, but Judge Mathis believes the fear of those around Diddy, not Didd, molded his image.
"There was this one guy, close to his dad, that everyone feared," Mathis said. "Some people say that was why Diddy felt the liberty to be a tough guy."
The dam has burst as the music mogul stands in the hot glare of federal scrutiny. Ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura accused him of a decade of sexual assault, abuse, and control. Another, she said, was raped and brutally ousted from his home. There are tales of firebombing Kid Cudi's car, locking a dog in a bathroom, and compelling people into debasing sex acts known as "freak-offs" that create a disgusting tapestry.
Mathis, who rose from a troubled early adulthood to become a revered legal figure and receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, has always been a proponent of justice and opportunities for redemption. But, in this instance, he's not buying the tough guy facade.
As his career of truth and transformation continues, Judge Mathis is still telling it like it is. With the BOMESI summit keynote just around the corner, he is a voice of reason in a world loaded with fame, fear, and fakery.
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