Kanye West shows up at Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, briefly showed up to the New York sex trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs on Friday to support the hip-hop mogul and a longtime friend.

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However, Ye was not allowed into the courtroom and left after briefly watching the trial on a video monitor in another room.

Kanye West, dressed in white, arrived at Manhattan federal court before noon while the trial was on a break and spent about 40 minutes in the building.

After emerging from an airport-style security screening, Ye was asked if he was at the courthouse to support Combs.

“Yes,” he responded with a nod. He then hustled to an elevator and did not respond when asked if he might testify on Combs’ behalf when the defence begins its presentation as early as next week.

Courthouse security did not take him to the 26th floor, where the trial occurs in one of the building’s largest courtrooms. As admittance is strictly controlled there, with seats reserved for Combs’ family and legal team, the media and spectators who wait in line for hours to get a coveted seat.

The rapper was taken instead to a courtroom three floors below the trial floor. There, he briefly observed testimony on a large closed-circuit monitor in an overflow room that was one floor below the usual overflow room, which was packed with media representatives and courthouse employees who heard erroneously that he might be there.

As word of his actual location spread and spectators trickled into the room where Ye sat in the front row with Combs’ son, Christian, a bodyguard and another Combs’ supporter on a side of the room that was otherwise kept vacant by a court officer, Ye looked around the room before abruptly getting up and leaving, along with the others with him.

He did not answer further questions as he left the courthouse, walking past reporters and TV cameras and ducking into a waiting black Mercedes sedan.

Meanwhile, in the courtroom where the trial occurred, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, 55, seemed elated and aware his friend had visited as family members, including his mother, watched the proceedings. He has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges alleging that he used his fame, fortune and violence to commit crimes over a 20-year period.