Why was Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sued for $1 trillion in Los Angeles?
Rappers, who tend to be young, Black, and from working class backgrounds, often get into legal trouble. It is a bleak fact of life that speaks to all manner of social ills, be it the systemic racism of the state or, indeed, the toxic cultures that can exist within hip-hop itself.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has, in recent years, become the most dramatic example of a rapper locked in a battle with the legal system. Accused of some very serious crimes, Diddy remains in jail today, found guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution. The legal saga and the circus surrounding it has generated a huge amount of public attention.
But while Diddy’s legal troubles of recent years have generated the most coverage, they are far from the only issues he’s faced through the years. He has been sued several times for all sorts of things, but one 2011 case in Los Angeles was especially absurd.
Diddy was accused, in this instance, of a range of supremely outlandish things. A woman, Valerie Joyce Wilson Turks, came forward to point the finger at Diddy for putting her kid in the hospital, for stealing a poker chip valued at “100 zillions of dollars,” and, on top of all that, for causing the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
For all that, Turks sought justice. She filed a $1 trillion lawsuit against the hip-hop mogul and tried to take out a restraining order against him. The judge denied that latter request, but a hearing was nonetheless set.
In addition to Diddy, Turks claimed two other people were involved in 9/11. On the one hand, there was Kim Porter, Diddy’s ex and the mother of his twins. On the other was Rodney King, a Black man who had been viciously and unjustly beaten by LAPD officers in 1991.
Diddy, according to Turks’ claims in her court papers, “went through Kim Porter and Rodney King and knocked down the WTC and then they all came and knocked my children down.” She claimed that the trio disabled her child. They put her “baby in a wheelchair.”
Turks alleged that she and Diddy had once dated, resulting in a son called Cornelius Wilson. She further claimed that, during a trip to a casino in Mississippi, she had acquired a very valuable chip. “It’s well worth over 100 zillions of dollars,” she said, accusing Diddy of stealing it from her.
All in all, Turks was seeking $900 billion in child support, as well as a further $100 billion for “loss of income.” This, she felt, would be a reasonable settlement. Her accusations were widely reported at the time, but, as for what happened next, little information subsequently emerged. It seems quite likely that her suit was not successful. Diddy, in all likelihood, did not shell out $1 trillion for, among other things, his supposed role in 9/11.