When There’s No Good Defence, They Call It Love What Diddy’s Lawyers Could Have Said — and Why They Didn’t- Abuse Reframed
Sean Combs’s defence called it a “modern love story”. Here is why that narrative is dangerous- and what other defences his legal team could have taken instead.
Why do powerful men pay so much for a weak defence?
Because the defence isn’t for the jury. It’s for:
- The public, to plant doubt.
- The media, to muddy the narrative.
- Other powerful men, to say: “Don’t worry. We can still spin this.”
It’s not built on truth. It’s built on distraction, denial, and mythmaking. And when they ran out of legal strategy, they leaned on the old tropes:
“She wanted it.”
“It was complicated.”
“He loved her in his own way.”
“The world just doesn’t understand his passion.”
It’s Heathcliff in Gucci and Non-Disclosure Agreements.
They painted Diddy as a misunderstood Heathcliff. They didn’t mount a defence. They staged a tragic romance. Heathcliff in a designer suit, violence disguised as passion. Abuse is not literary. It’s not iconic. It’s not misunderstood. It’s harm — and we know what it looks like now.
That was the image they reached for — tragic, misunderstood, darkly passionate. Not an abuser. Not a predator.
Just a man too intense to be contained by ordinary love. Instead of denying the mounting allegations, Sean Combs’s defence team romanticized them. They called his behaviour “private”. They called their relationship “modern”. They called the text messages “beautiful”. And they asked us all to see love where survivors saw terror.
This wasn’t just tone-deaf. It was strategic — and deeply familiar.
Because when a powerful man has no real defence, what does he do? He calls it love.
What They Could Have Said — But Didn’t
1. Damage Control
“He made mistakes. There were toxic dynamics. But this doesn’t rise to criminality.”
A partial admission. A nod to wrongdoing. A public apology. Framing it as poor judgement rather than predation. Its been used in other high-profile cases to win public sympathy and reduce legal consequences.
Why they didn’t use it: Because accountability doesn’t sell in celebrity culture — and certainly not for someone whose entire brand is built on dominance, perfection, and control. Admission of fault opens the door to further allegations and fractures the myth of power.
2. Mental Health Mitigation
“He was under pressure. He had unresolved trauma. He self-medicated and spiralled.”
This tactic often frames the accused as someone in need of help not punishment. It might lead to treatment based sentences and softer headlines.
Why they didn’t use it: Because it softens his image too much. It requires vulnerability. And it invites people to look more closely at why he spiralled- which might unearth more than they are willing to reveal.
3. Consent and Kink Gone Wrong
“These were non-traditional but consensual acts. Regret isn’t the same as criminality.”
We’ve seen this defence before in cases involving sexual violence- portraying the victim as a willing participant and framing the abuse as “misunderstood desire”.
Why they didn’t use it: Because there’s too much evidence suggesting coercion and power imbalance. There are too many women, too many patterns, too many bruises- literal and figurative. Kink only works as a defence when consent is clear. It wasn’t.
4. Blame the System
“This is a witch hunt. The system is targeting a powerful Black man.”
They could have mad it political- framed it as racial persecution, a smear campaign by media and government forces that want to take down a Black mogul.
Why they didn’t use it: Because the survivors are also Black. And the case is made of many voices.
5. Romanticize the Abuse (Chosen)
“It was a modern love story.”
This is what they went with. Not truth. Not apology. Not even plausible doubt. They gave the monster a crown.
They read love letters while ignoring the bruises. They said “beautiful” where survivors said “pain”. They asked us to admire what should make us afraid.
The Real Danger
When a defence team paint abuse as passion, they don’t just protect the accused — they silence the accuser. They tell survivors everywhere:
• Your pain will be edited.
• Your fear will be romanticized.
• Your voice will be overwritten — again.
This is not new but it’s not acceptable anymore.
They rewrote the story, Gave the monster a crown. But truth walks in barefoot, when lies fall down.
Let’s call things what they are. Let’s stop letting silk and power dress up violence as intimacy. Let’s keep walking —barefoot, honest and loud.
Read the first piece in this series:
Modern Daddy: A Poem About the Rebranding of Abuse Blog
Follow me for more essays, survivor stories, and cultural commentary. Destinymotif.com
