A juror in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs is opening up about the decision-making process behind Wednesday’s verdict, when the disgraced rap mogul was convicted of illegal prostitution but acquitted of sex-trafficking and racketeering charges.

Speaking to ABC News on Thursday (July 3), the juror, who requested anonymity citing concerns of potential online abuse and cyber harassment, said they heard a legal pundit today suggest that Combs’ celebrity status may have influenced the jury’s decision, an idea that the juror slammed as “highly insulting and belittling to the jury and the deliberation process.”

“We spent over two days deliberating. Our decision was based solely on the evidence presented and how the law is stated,” the juror told the outlet. “We would have treated any defendant in the same manner regardless of who they are. I have nothing else to say.”

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request for bail and ruled that he will have to remain in jail, where he’s been since his arrest 10 months ago, until a sentencing hearing later this year. Judge Subramanian said his history of domestic violence still makes him a danger to society despite his acquittal on the more serious charges. The judge proposed a sentencing date of Oct. 3 but also set a remote hearing for Tuesday, July 8 to further discuss the sentence scheduling.

Aubrey O’Day and Kesha both recently showed support for Cassie, who took the stand for several days during the seven-week trial. Meanwhile, 50 Cent, Combs’ son King, Funkmaster Flex and more also weighed in on the verdict.

Jim Jones sat down with Angie Martinez for her IRL podcast recently and talked about the debate that’s had a stranglehold on rap social media.

The legendary journalist and radio host said that the day after she booked Jim for an episode, the Nas debate went viral and asked if he’s been trolling people a bit with some of his quotes surrounding the situation.

“I mean you’re definitely correct,” he said with a smile before explaining how the conversation started in the first place. “But I didn’t start it. There was a young gentleman that they asked a question to and his clip went viral. He was on a podcast and they asked him who’s more relevant: Jim Jones or Nas? That went super viral and that led to all these people with platforms to ask that question.”

Adding that he was only defending himself after being asked a question, he then brought up his earlier back-and-forth with fellow Diplomat Cam’ron earlier this year. “Even from the beginning of the year when I did the Justin [Laboy] interview — I didn’t start it,” Jones said. “They asked me how I felt about what was said about me from another platform from some other people. I’m not a troublemaker, but I like trouble if that’s the case. I’m built for it. My whole type of thing has been that engagement, and here we are.”

Jones then talked about how easy it is to go viral with today’s social media landscape and how something like that can benefit an artist in the digital age. “I gave people a prerequisite,” he told Martinez. “I know how to go viral, this is easy. We’re in a community where everything goes viral… and turns into a revenue stream. I’m on everybody’s Explore page, I’m at the top of this page, the top of that page. You like me, don’t like me, know who I was… one click away from making me some money. I also have a record label, I have artists, I have music out. It makes it that much easier to know who Jim Jones is. I’m worried about myself when I make these moves. I know how to turn my negatives into a positive.”

The kicker, though? He underestimated how many people have Nas at the top of their favorite rapper list.

“Man, I didn’t know how many people loved Nas, though,” he said before making himself and Angie burst into laughter. “I’m watching people go absolutely batsh– crazy, like goddamn. But that’s hip-hop. There’s people that I adored as a fan too that I’ll probably go batsh– crazy for in the same situation, I love it, that’s what the game was built on. Let’s not make no mistake, I put in a lot of work and I did a lot of incredible things that a lot of people have not gotten to do in this industry.”

A few weeks back, a clip of a young 22-year-old from New Jersey went viral because he said the Harlem rapper was more relevant to him than Nas. This opinion predictably got people up in arms and Jones’ subsequent media run after continued to fan the flames. Jones defended himself on Fat Joe and Jadakiss’ podcast and told the people to pull up the Billboard stats and he told the BagFuel podcast that he basically did Nas a favor by talking about him so much. “What I did for Nas probably never been done for him in his life. He’s never been that viral at all. Ever,” he said. “Ever. He’s never been talked about like this ever in his life.”

You can watch the full episode below.

After years of lurid accusations against Sean “Diddy” Combs, the rap mogul’s acquittal on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges came as a surprise to much of the world. So how did Combs manage to defeat the most severe counts in his bombshell criminal trial?

While a New York jury found Combs guilty on Wednesday (July 2) of transporting girlfriends and male escorts across state lines for drug-fueled sex marathons, they were not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this conduct amounted to sex-trafficking or occurred as part of a criminal enterprise. The partial acquittal is a major victory for Combs, as it tees up a far shorter potential prison sentence.

Jury deliberations are secret, so we can’t know for sure what tipped the scales on the verdict. But legal experts tell Billboard that it may have been a stretch for prosecutors to indict Combs under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the federal “RICO” statute often deployed against mobsters and cartels.

“The government overreached,” says David Ring, a lawyer who specializes in sexual abuse cases. “They wanted a RICO conviction so they could then go seize Comb’s assets under RICO forfeiture laws. That’s not going to happen now.”

To win on RICO, prosecutors would have had to prove that Combs and his underlings operated a wide-ranging criminal syndicate. The government’s evidence, it seems, was not enough to convince the jury that Combs’ business ventures represented this type of racketeering enterprise.

Jennifer Beidel, a defense lawyer who previously worked as a federal prosecutor in the office that brought Combs’ case, hypothesizes that jurors may have been dubious of the RICO charges due to what she called the “two empty seats.” She’s referring to the lack of testimony from Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, and his longtime security guard, D-Roc.

Prosecutors described both Khorram and D-Roc throughout the trial as participants in Combs’ alleged crimes, but neither one faced charges or appeared in court as a cooperating witness. Since RICO is a conspiracy charge, prosecutors typically secure guilty pleas from at least one accomplice and have them admit their crimes on the witness stand to prove that they broke the law as a group.

“RICO without a cooperator — I would at least call that a pretty creative charging decision,” says Beidel.

Beidel says prosecutors probably had a better shot with the sex-trafficking charges against Combs, since there was some testimony and video evidence that could point to singer Cassie Ventura and an anonymous woman known as “Jane” being coerced into Combs’ dayslong sex parties. But these counts, too, faced tall hurdles due to other testimony and text messages that showed both women consenting to at least some of the sexual encounters with Combs.

“We have to take from the result that the jury did not find that there was sufficient evidence of coercion,” Beidel explains.

Strong lawyering by the defense team was obviously a contributing factor in Combs’ acquittal. Beyond shrewd cross-examination and a focus on the evidence that supported their position, New York Law School criminal defense professor Anna Cominsky says Combs’ attorneys were smart to draw a bright line between domestic abuse and the crimes at issue in the trial.

Defense lawyers admitted from the very first day of trial that Combs was physically abusive towards Ventura. They owned that this was ugly behavior, but emphasized repeatedly that Combs was not charged with domestic abuse and that his conduct was not equivalent to trafficking or racketeering.

“The defense did a good job of owning the bad facts,” observes Cominsky. “By taking ownership of those bad facts, owning the domestic abuse component, that gives them instant credibility with respect to the jury.”

That said, Combs’ acknowledgment of domestic violence has already come back to bite him. Judge Arun Subramanian cited this confession in rejecting Combs’ request to be let out on bail following the guilty verdict, and it could very well be a factor for the judge when he decides the rapper’s sentence in a few months.

“That definitely shows you the judge’s attitude towards his domestic violence,” says Beidel of the bail denial. “The judge definitely thinks he’s still a danger to the community.”

Move over, Cardi B. Brent Faiyaz announced his upcoming album, Icon, on Thursday (July 3), which is slated to hit streaming services on Sept. 19 — the same day as Cardi’s Am I the Drama?.

Faiyaz sent fans into a frenzy with a post to his Instagram Story featuring the album title and a possible cover art for Icon, alongside the expected release date of Sept. 19.

The R&B singer’s wasting no time kicking off the rollout on Friday (July 4) when a pair of singles, named after famed fictional characters “Tony Soprano” and “Peter Pan,” will arrive.

A snippet finds Faiyaz lending his intoxicating croon to laid-back production: “I wish that I could breathe underwater/ I’ll swim to the deepest ocean to be where you are, babe/ If I could be there, I would love you inside out,” he sings.

Icon serves as Faiyaz’s first studio album since 2022’s Wasteland, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. He also released a mixtape in 2023 with Larger Than Life featuring Missy Elliott, A$AP Rocky, Babyface Ray, Coco Jones and Tommy Richman.

Ahead of the mixtape’s arrival, Billboard reported that Faiyaz inked a lucrative distribution deal with UnitedMasters and launched his ISO Supremacy record label/creative agency.

“My role musically and artistically, that’s not really up for me to interpret,” Faiyaz told Billboard in 2024. “There are still a lot more things I want to learn. But now I’m realizing how important it was to break the mold so that people can see my story, see what we did and say, ‘All right, I can do that. It’s just another way to go about it. It doesn’t really have to be so black and white.’ That has been my role: to usher in this new wave of creative freedom.”

Lizzo is showing off her progress while silencing haters. In a triumphant post on Instagram on Thursday (July 3), the hitmaker shared side-by-side photos from before and after her weight loss, revealing the “truth” behind how she pulled off her transformation.

In both snaps, Lizzo poses in front of a mirror at a lymphatic massage center. Taken months apart, the Grammy winner looks visibly slimmer in the second photo.

“In light of all these magazines and blogs wanting me to be on ozempic soooo bad — here’s the truth!” she wrote in her caption. “I work my a– off, training 3x a week, daily sauna & cardio, adding animal protein back into my diet, hiring a chef who helps me meal prep and keeps track of what I put into my body in a calorie deficit, cutting out sugary Starbucks & full fat sodas & potato chips.”

Lizzo went on to say that she quit drinking for a long time, but is now back to indulging in alcohol because she “earned it.” “I play pickleball and hike and walk on the beach and move my body and dance and drink water,” she added. “I detox! Once a month! I also get holistic body work done, wood therapy, and lymphatic massage.”

The musician concluded, “I’m so happy and proud of what I’ve done, and no one can take that away from me.”

Lizzo has been open in the past few months about her fitness journey. In a recent Women’s Health cover story, she opened up about being inspired to shed some pounds after suffering severe back pain caused by her weight.

The artist — whose new album Love in Real Life drops later this year — also explained why she prefers to view her approach as a “weight-release journey,” rather than weight “loss.” “It’s okay to gain weight after you’ve released weight, because what you’re not going to do is shame me if my body changes again and I get bigger,” she told the publication.

See Lizzo’s post below.