As Sean “Diddy” Combs awaits trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, he continues to have support from his children.
The hip-hop mogul, who maintains his innocence, celebrated his 55th birthday this week at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he had the “breakfast cake” option. Outside the prison, his family gathered to celebrate him. They called Combs to sing Happy Birthday, complete with a cake and candles, and then posted the recorded conversation with Combs to the star’s Instagram account.
Afterwards, Christian “King” Combs, Combs’ eldest child with the late Kim Porter, announced he was “taking over my dad’s Instagram account.” The 26-year-old said he wanted to spread “good energy” and remind people of “all the positive things” his father has done as Combs faces federal charges and the list of sexual abuse lawsuits grows.
King then shared three of his father’s old music videos — “It’s All About The Benjamins” (1997) and “Victory” (1998) — and swear-filled clips of Combs featuring Notorious B.I.G. Posted on November 6, the day the presidential election was called, there was no shortage of reactions in the comments.
With Combs facing a prison sentence of 15 years to life – and an ongoing investigation – handing over his Instagram to his children is a risky PR move.
PR pro says it comes across as ‘disingenuous and cluelessly timed’
It’s no surprise that Combs’ children support him through his ordeal.
Although Combs’ seven children come from relationships with four different mothers, they are a close-knit team. King, 26, and his half-brother Justin, 30, were at their father’s Los Angeles home when it was raided and handcuffed by federal investigators in March before being released. King, a rapper like his father, and several siblings attended Combs’ hearings and posted their support for him online.
But given that Combs is accused of abusing, threatening and coercing women and others and allegedly using guns, kidnapping and arson to control victims, the “good energy” takeover of Instagram seems like a PR -professional is incorrect.
“Posting Diddy’s children on his Instagram is likely his self-directed ploy to attract public sympathy with a softer image, diverting attention from negative press by showing personal, relatable parts of his life,” says Eric Schiffer, a PR expert and chairman of Reputation. Management Consultants, v. Yahoo Entertainment. “But his desperation to be seen sympathetically backfired hard and is bad for Diddy because the perception is that it is fake, disingenuous and cluelessly timed alongside a US presidential election.”
With the wealthy music mogul pouring a fortune into his defense, the Instagram posts do not appear to be part of a professionally managed PR scheme.
Schiffer said it appears as if Combs has “no targeted PR plan for the crisis,” but instead “an avalanche of ideas coming out of his cell,” where he has been held since September awaiting trial in May 2025.
If Combs were his client, Schiffer would find the strategy troubling. “The last thing you want to do is create new complications with your reputation,” he said. “In this case, his tactics look manipulative and fake.”
So what are the Combs kids to do? “The family should support him by going to court and through their own social media [accounts]but stay miles away from running their dad’s Insta,” Schiffer said.
Legal expert calls it an ‘attempt to arouse sympathy’
As the number of allegations against Combs grows, the effort to reframe the public narrative is part of his legal strategy. The Instagram posts show children without their father because he has been denied bail several times. The message is that they miss him and support him.
“We are familiar with the tactics Mr. Combs is using through his children,” legal expert Judie A. Saunders, an attorney who heads the sexual abuse and human trafficking practice at law firm ASK, told Yahoo. “This tactic is often used. Specifically, Mr. Combs is trying to launch a PR campaign aimed at reframing the narrative and taking control. Mr. Combs did not use this tactic effectively when he made a videotaped statement in response to the video of him allegedly punching, punching and kicking his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
Saunders called the tactic “one in which a defendant accused of vile acts tries to gain sympathy for himself and his children.” The strategy is an attempt to make an alleged abuser more recognizable to potential jurors. As a strategy, Mr. Combs must rewrite strategy history and define himself as a good father and family man.”
Saunders, a former prosecutor, said she isn’t surprised that Combs’ children appear to support him. She also warns that abusive people can have more than one side.
“As a trial attorney, I have seen cases where the most despicable perpetrators can be portrayed as both violent abusers and supportive youth leaders,” she said. “An abuser can be anti-women or anti-child and have a family.”
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