Earlier this week, Diddy’s federal sex trafficking trial began in New York, with the music mogul’s ex, Cassie Ventura, taking the stand.
Since news of Diddy’s legal troubles first began to emerge, there began to be online speculation as to whether or not Justin had been impacted as his previous collaborator. The two met in the early days of Justin’s career, with the teenager uploading a video titled “JUSTIN BIEBER’s 48 HRS with DIDDY!!” in 2009. In it, Diddy said, “Where we hanging out and what we doing, we can’t really disclose, but it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream.”
A 2011 interview further resurfaced, in which Diddy referred to himself as the 17-year-old’s “friend” and said, “And he knows better than to be talking about the things that he does with big brother Puff on national television. Everything ain’t for everybody.”
Earlier today, TMZ was first to break the news that a representative for Justin had issued a statement beginning, “Although Justin is not among Sean Combs’ victims, there are individuals who were genuinely harmed by him.”
“Shifting focus away from this reality detracts from the justice these victims rightfully deserve,” they added, with the statement later being obtained by People and E!.
After Diddy was arrested last September, a source told People that Justin was “aware” of the allegations but focused on his wife and baby, noting, “It’s not anything that he wants to focus on, though.”
BuzzFeed has reached out to representatives for Diddy and Bieber for comment.