Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, faced probing questions about her financial motivations on her last day of testimony in the rapper’s sex-trafficking trial on Friday (May 16), while Danity Kane alum Dawn Richard also took the stand and said she witnessed Combs abusing Ventura.

Richard’s testimony closed out the first week of Combs’ much-awaited criminal trial, in which the music mogul is accused of coercing Ventura and other women into participating in drug-fueled sex shows known as “freak-offs.” R&B singer Ventura, the prosecution’s star witness, spent four days on the stand detailing how Combs allegedly controlled and physically abused her during their 11-year relationship.

Ventura faced her second and final day of cross-examination on Friday from Combs’ attorney Anna Estevao, according to the Associated Press and the New York Times. Defense lawyers had previously suggested they may want to keep questioning Ventura next week, but backed off the request after prosecutors flagged concerns that the very pregnant Ventura might go into labor over the weekend.   

Continuing a strategy from the first day of cross-examination, Estevao confronted Ventura with more seemingly loving text messages between her and Combs. Some appeared to support the defense’s theory that the pair’s sex life, while unconventional, was consensual.

“I don’t want to freak off for the last time,” Ventura wrote in one such text to Combs. “I want it to be the first time for the rest of our lives.”

Estevao also tried to imply that Ventura is motivated by money to lie about her experience with Combs, getting the witness to reveal for the first time that she’s getting a $10 million settlement from the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, where Combs was seen beating Ventura in infamous video footage from 2016.

The newly-revealed $10 million settlement is on top of a $20 million civil payout Ventura got from Combs himself after she sued the rapper in 2023. Estevao noted Friday that Ventura canceled an upcoming concert tour soon after inking that settlement.

“As soon as you saw that you were going to get the $20 million, you canceled the tour because you didn’t need it anymore, right?” Estevao asked Ventura.

“That wasn’t the reason why,” Ventura replied.

When prosecutors got another chance to question Ventura on re-direct examination later on Friday, she explained that she would give the money back if she could reverse Combs’ abuse. “If I never had to have freak-offs I would have agency and autonomy,” Ventura said.

After Ventura completed her testimony, her attorney, Douglas Wigdor, shared a statement from the singer: “This week has been extremely challenging, but also remarkably empowering and healing for me,” Ventura wrote. “I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors, and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from abuse and fear.  For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember, and the more I can remember, the more I will never forget.”

Another figure in the music world took the witness stand after Ventura departed Friday: Dawn Richard, whose girl group Danity Kane was launched by Combs’ MTV reality show Making the Band.

Richard has a pending civil lawsuit against Combs, in which she alleges he harassed and assaulted her during “years of inhumane working conditions.” But those claims aren’t part of the criminal trial; instead, Richard served as a corroborating witness for Ventura.

During her brief testimony, Richard told the jury she witnessed Combs physically assault Ventura on multiple occasions. In one 2009 encounter, Richard said she saw Combs punch, kick, drag and even try to hit Ventura on the head with a cooking skillet.

The trial is expected to pick up Monday (May 19) with testimony from Ventura’s longtime friend Kerry Morgan, followed by other alleged victims of Combs’ freak-offs. The jury could hear evidence for up to two months total.

Drake wants fellow Canadian rapper Tory Lanez to “come home soon” after he was stabbed multiple times in prison and hospitalized earlier this week.

On his Instagram Story Friday (May 16), Drake wrote “@torylanez come home soon” while sharing a Change.org petition urging California Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon the fellow Toronto MC, who’s currently serving a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted on three felony counts tied to his shooting of Megan Thee Stallion during a heated dispute after a Hollywood Hills pool party in July 2020.

TMZ reported Monday that Lanez (real name Daystar Peterson) had been stabbed in the prison yard of California Correctional Institution and rushed to a nearby hospital in Bakersfield, California, to treat his injuries. A statement shared on Lanez’s Instagram Story the following day revealed that he had been “stabbed 14 times, including seven wounds to his back, four to his torso, two to the back of his head and one to the left side of his face. Both of his lungs collapsed, and he was placed on a breathing apparatus. He is now breathing on his own,” the statement reads. “Despite being in pain, he is talking normally, in good spirits and deeply thankful to God that he is pulling through. He also wants to thank everyone for the continued prayers and support.”

This isn’t the first time Drake has shown support to Tory Lanez. In December, during his Drizzmas Giveaway stream with Adin Ross, Drake raised a shot glass to Lanez and declared, “3 up T, man. 3 up T. I know they don’t want to hear me say that. 3 up T.” He used a similar plea 10 months earlier when he simply wrote “3 u” on his IG Story.

The two previously feuded but squashed their beef in 2017 via an IG post. Drake brought Lanez out at his OVO Fest the same year to perform “Controlla” from the former’s 2016 album Views together.

An unexpected musical supergroup will appear on the soundtrack to the upcoming F1 movie, with Ed Sheeran confirming his appearance alongside some notable names.

Sheeran announced that his upcoming song, “Drive,” is more than just a solo venture, with Dave Grohl joining the track on drums and John Mayer contributing guitars. “A lot of fun making this, coming out next month with the movie,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories on Thursday (May 15).

The full lineup of artists on F1: The Album was announced earlier in May, with Tate McRae, RAYE, Burna Boy, Roddy Rich, Dom Dolla, Chris Stapleton, Tiësto, Sexyy Red, Myke Towers, Madison Beer, Peggy Gou and more confirmed to soundtrack the Brad Pitt-led film.

The album was led by the Ryan Tedder-produced single “Lose My Mind” by Don Toliver featuring Doja Cat, and was swiftly followed by “Messy” by ROSÉ of BLACKPINK.

Directed by Top Gun: Maverick‘s Joseph Kosinski, F1 finds the Fight Club actor portraying retired racer Sonny Hayes — whose career was cut short decades prior due to an injury — as he returns to the track to help former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) save his struggling Formula 1 team, Apex Grand Prix. The film will also star Damson Idris as Joshua Pearce, the team’s “hotshot rookie intent on setting his own pace,” according to a description.

Sheeran’s announcement of the star-studded collaborators on the track follows on from a busy few weeks for all the artists involved. 

While Sheeran himself recently announced the release of his forthcoming album Play, Grohl’s Foo Fighters this week announced their first show of 2025, marking their first live date since Grohl announced in September that he’d fathered a daughter outside of his marriage to wife of 22 years Jordyn Blum.

Mayer, meanwhile, has been performing with Dead & Company as part of their Las Vegas Sphere residency, which wraps on Saturday (May 17).

F1 will hit theaters June 27, with the soundtrack dropping the same day.