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The Diddy Verdict - Circuspreneur Podcast
19 Plays11 days ago
#Diddytrial #Diddycourtcase #Abuseofpower #Performingarts #Entertainment
On this episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast, host Shenea Stiletto discusses the recent verdict in the Diddy Trial, and how it speaks to the systematic abuses of power that are prevalent in the entertainment/performing arts industry, and how these often go unchecked. Shenea also highlights the need for more transparency and accountability within these industries.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Sponsorship
00:00:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yes, it's Shanae Stiletto, and welcome to a solo episode of the Circuspreneur podcast, sponsored by Stagelink.com.
Reflections on Diddy and Cassie Case Verdict
00:00:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
And this is an episode where I'm going to reflect a little bit on the Diddy verdict, the Diddy and Cassie case,
00:00:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
That was released today. The jury came to a conclusion after a few months of trial. And this was a very popular case. I mean, for those of us, I'm sure you have at least seen a little blip of it if you've not been like super ah following it super, super close.
Personal Connection: Abuse in Gymnastics
00:00:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
And it's interesting because I don't usually, um you know, dissect popular cases like this. um on the podcast. I reference them from time to time, but this one, for those of you who know my own personal story as a survivor of Fusey Gymnastics, and going through really horrific experiences where I was abused by ah by those in positions of authority and within a really unique environment when as a young gymnast on the road to trying to achieve my dreams.
00:01:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so I wanted to comment on this case because I thought it's so ah interesting.
Abuse of Power in Entertainment
00:01:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
We continue to see these cases where that highlight the abuses of power by those in positions of authority in really unique environments, specifically entertainment and the performing arts or the niche, I would say, arts um environments. And These cases are really crazy and really out there and really um salacious so for folks. But i think when you're someone like me, who is a survivor of you know, a really prolific case, and those of us, you know, as survivors of using gymnastics, I mean, so many of these cases to me, I just am like, yeah, i you know, I totally get it.
00:02:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
I see how this can happen. And I see... um You know how easy it is, you know, when people are like, how is there just so many victims? Because again, lived this as a little kid.
00:02:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
And i saw people from all ages and all, so... you know backgrounds be so overly invested in an environment because it was unique. And I speak about that a lot in the podcast, you know, about the circus arts and the performing arts and the entertainment world really operating on just like a completely different planet and on a completely different tier of sanity and why that's such a big problem.
Challenges in Prosecuting Abuse Cases
00:02:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
and you know, because we, unfortunately, get people like Sean Combs or like Diddy, whatever you want to call him. He goes by so many names, Puffy. um you know And then we're now seeing cases being actually tried in court.
00:03:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
And now they're up against the law. Some of them are up against new laws. Some of them, they're trying to apply existing laws to these cases that may not really fit. um And you know for those of you have tuned in, I'm sure, you're just as disappointed as I am about what he was not held accountable for and not found guilty on.
00:03:33
Circuspreneur Podcast
and there's so much debate right now around, what ah but around that. I really wanted justice for his victims as a survivor myself, who has been through the legal criminal justice system and how brutal it is and how challenging it is and what it takes to go through that year after year.
Disappointment in Legal Outcomes
00:03:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
um you know I went through over almost 10 years of the legal process to get people held accountable. So imagine, I'm not dwindling or putting down this case, but imagine this case has been tried for a few months and...
00:04:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, Cassie's civil case, and she didn't actually have to do a civil case. She um was able to, she got a settlement from him prior to that and didn't have to go to to court to hold him accountable civilly. And I'm so glad that he was held accountable criminally. Now, he was found guilty.
00:04:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
He was found guilty for really like much lesser charges. And again, there's so much debate around what he should have been held accountable for. I am you know ah disappointed that he wasn't held accountable for the higher charges um and for more serious crimes. I think that he deserves to spend decades in prison for everything that he's done because he's been victimizing women and men for like over 30 years.
00:04:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
And the interesting thing is, is because I've been in entertainment and things like that connected in entertainment and been in l LA for so many years, like i have heard things about him for for years, um you know, about, you know, brutal experiences that, you know, so-and-so that, you know, heard or knows somebody directly, you know, kind of connected to
Industry Rumors and Intimidation Tactics
00:05:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
that. And it's always just like allegedly, but it's it's crazy, you know? And um I wouldn't call myself someone who's like well-connected, but ah LA in the entertainment world is really like that. I mean, you're going to know someone
00:05:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
who had worked for someone who has worked for someone, and you know, and people tell the truth. And, um, you know, so again, i you know, experiencing that I had again, zero connection to being able to do anything. I mean, this was like someone telling me about something that they knew about, um, you know, through, uh,
00:05:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
whatever type of grapevine and at what year or point that situation had occurred and these allegations against him, which at that time were never allegations, they're just rumors and stories. And, you know, I talk about that again, a lot within the entertainment environment and performing arts environment, how people do not end in gymnastics and in the sporting world.
00:06:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
that people don't report abuses. They don't report crimes. They don't come forward when they are victimized or when they are incredibly close to a situation where they could be instrumental in helping someone survive a situation or getting them out of that. But I mean, we saw the like,
00:06:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
ridiculous intimidation tactics that someone on Diddy's level was able to do. i mean, you know, he's, you know, and this is all verified in the court, in in the court case and in the trial. And that, you know, is evidence, you know, of these extreme intimidation tactics or, you know, or being able to pay people off or being able to intimidate witnesses or being able to use violence, you to gain silence um against victims. And I'm speaking so much as a survivor of physiognomatics. I advocate a lot in DC and I work behind the scenes with a lot of policy um to protect survivors and to protect victims and um you know to be able to have better defenses in these cases and in these trials as well, because these people are so wealthy and have so much influence.
00:07:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
It's, you know, so challenging to be able to get um justice. I mean, I can't tell you what it means just for, you know, a defendant to have just like a good lawyer and what their chances are of getting out of charges um when they are just like downright guilty.
00:07:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so... that's a challenging aspect, again, from someone who has been in these cases civilly as well as criminally for years and working on policy reform and, um you know, seeing where, you know, looking from the outside in and and wanting things to go a certain way or, you know, and again, court is um is is is very orchestrated.
00:07:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, um you know, there are certain things that, You know, you even find out later on or certain things that aren't admissible in court or, again, certain charges that just are not going to necessarily stick, um unfortunately, for this particular person um or, you know, or maybe shouldn't stick. Right. there there's There's so many things. But I'm talking specifically about this. I could go into like a five hour podcast at this point.
Survivors' Struggles for Justice
00:08:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
with how much um I've been privy to and how many victims I've met over the years that have survived, you know, just unimaginable crimes against them. And some of them have never had their day in court.
00:08:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, some of them, their perpetrators have never been found or they've just, they they never reported the crime or, you know, they, or they just weren't able to get any justice in that way because the courts failed them And then again, the cases where, you know, there is justice. And so there is some element of justice, obviously, to this case.
00:08:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I'm grateful for that. I'm interested to see how many years he will do in prison. But what I really, again, wanted to speak upon is just the outrageous abuses that we hear happening in entertainment and in the performing arts.
00:09:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
And why that something that continues to happen? i mean, Again, i think we're finally seeing a new dawn where folks that have been doing this for so many years are in some capacity, you know, um being brought to justice in some ways, thankfully.
Advocacy for Arts Regulation and Support
00:09:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
But, you know these environments just people act with so much impunity and, you ah You know, and people in positions of authority in the arts and in the performing arts and entertainment. And again, there's a huge attack on the arts right now. So this is not, you know, in a way trying to attack the performing arts. This is talking about how much more support we need in the arts because we are an afterthought so much more.
00:10:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
And we're just not in an environment that, you know, people are really looking at and nobody takes this seriously. It's unfortunate, um but it's true. You know, they, you know, uplift everyone so much in the arts, but then don't care that you don't have regulations or have like extensive rights or that you feel...
00:10:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
that you were isolated in an environment and then you try to go and plead your case and people just kind of like, don't know, even know what to do with your case because they're like, I don't know this system. i don't know. i don't understand the environment that you're in. It was just like being a survivor of Fusy Gymnastics. I can't tell you how many investigators I've spoken to that, you know, this was now their job to investigate into all these cases. And they just couldn't even connect to point A to point B, because they were like, I just don't really understand
Persistence of Abuse in Unique Environments
00:10:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
this environment. And that's their job. And that's their, that's their career. They are a specialist. And of course, they're getting more and more people that are much better, you know, much better educated, but these are unique environments and they are difficult.
00:11:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
They are difficult to decipher. They are difficult if you've not been around them. And so you see how someone like him is able to just exist for years and for years and for years, um you know, with, you know, people, again, just making the victims the fault, right? um You know, now you have someone who is holding you for ransom, right? for all sorts of things, for your career, for your livelihood, for your art, um legally getting you to sign contracts where you feel bound, do me things but doing things behind the scenes criminally that people don't know about to intimidate you, that um you know keeps you in this sort of space. And we all know how it feels, you know what grooming is like and you know Stockholm syndrome.
Child Victims' Rationalization of Abuse
00:11:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
And um you know again, I've experienced all those different elements. I have
00:11:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
dear friends that have all experienced that too over the years, where you feel absolutely trapped in your circumstances of being abused. um And you know there's there's so many different components to being victimized.
00:12:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
And um to convincing yourself that you're okay, that you can make it through this, that you know that you can use this situation um to your advantage. I mean, all of these very, you know, and people are thinking this as children, ah right? I mean, remember, you have children that think this way when they're being victimized, even if they don't really understand it, they have to rationalize it years later of like, this is where I was I was coming from, was making sure this person like didn't, you know, like didn't ruin all that my family and myself have worked for. You know, you have those sentiments and until folks are honest but on a continuous basis about what it's like to have those kinds of thoughts, to have that reality as well, you know, where you are up against people that are maybe going to blackmail you for life.
00:12:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
And you don't know what that kind of blackmail would look like because these people are so incredibly wealthy. And they're so incredibly connected. And who comes out if no one else joins you, losing out and the feeling of losing out on your dreams
Fame, Success, and Exploitation
00:13:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
and on things that you want.
00:13:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then also too, us continuing to put up these environments and make them so special and coveted and why that needs to stop. It needs to stop. We need to stop invoking all of this, you know fame and specialness and you know, social media followings and anything that's going to make you special, hold onto that for dear life because that's it.
00:13:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
And that's your ticket and that's going to make you happy. And that's going to, you know, um and I'm not, I'm not talking about the fact that, you know, and so many people, sometimes that's your ticket out of poverty.
00:13:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
And we have to look at that as well, especially within the circus arts and the performing arts that, you know, your, your arts career is literally your ticket to a better passport. And, And that's society. It doesn't mean that your passport or where you were born is anything less, but that is what society has built, um ah you know, the the system around you. um And, you know, and and how how challenging that is when you have so much at stake to stay in situations that are abusive sometimes.
00:14:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, um you know, it's different when you're a child, you don't even have the verbiage to communicate what's happening to you and why it's wrong.
Grooming and Manipulation Tactics
00:14:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
um And, you know, and thinking about, you know, the victims in this case, and, you know, how young they were when they got into, you know, this situation with somebody, you know, and I always...
00:14:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know, say, look at this situation that Cassie was in with Diddy, where it was like, you know, that's your coach essentially, and you're a young athlete. Um, and then they're grooming you and setting you up for all of this success and, um, you know, and taking advantage of you in in the process and, you know, you're 19 years old, you're 18 years old. And, you know, some victims in those situations have married their coaches after, you know, years and years and years of being groomed. And, um, being taken advantage of at 18, 19 years old, and then, you know, or at 16, 17, and then they go on, you know, at 28, 29, and there you go, it's almost 10 years, you know, it's almost 11 years. So again, there's so many different
00:15:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
motivations, unfortunately, for for these situations and what makes them work and what makes them last so long and what makes them tick. And, um you know, the judgments that people bring on ah victims and the judgments that people have just within society of, you know, that person did that thing to get ahead or that person did that, you know, whatever. And sometimes, sometimes it maybe is that in certain ways. Sometimes it is, I'm going to do this because I need to keep this job.
00:15:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, and I don't want to go back to where I used to be living. And unfortunately, you know, putting people in those positions of survival is sad. It's really sad.
00:16:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, it's really sad when people feel like they have to do things to hurt themselves. um But what's worse is the people that perpetuate those those acts against those people that are so desperate because you have a choice. Yeah. You're the one with the ultimate choice. That person feels like they're in a situation where they have to be, they have no choice but to be exploited.
Responsibilities of Power Holders
00:16:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
And how sad and and horrible is that? But you're in the position of power to say like, no, I won't exploit you. I'm just going to help you. like You don't have to do anything horrible for me to do my job or for me to, you know, um to be decent to you, for me to not take advantage of you. Where is the responsibility in these situations? But again, when you get so corrupted,
00:16:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
by being special, um by being in a position that you don't want anyone, you know, to get in the way of your power. um You know, when you've gotten into a space that is so coveted and so glamorous and so interesting and, you know, and that's why, you know, so many of us speak about, ah speak out about like, was the, were the medals worth it? Absolutely not. You know, if you could do it all over again and trade those experiences and Would you still, you know, but the other sad part of that is you were just going for your dream.
00:17:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
You were just, let's remind everyone, if you were, you know, you wanted to be a circus performer, you want to be an entertainer, you want to be an actor, you want to be a singer, you want to be a performer. Like you are just innocently trying to follow your your your dream, follow follow the essence of what you want. And then all of a sudden it just becomes so corrupted.
00:17:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
um And, you know, and i I know for, you know, for folks, you know, that get caught up And they're victimized and all those things. It's like after so many years, you don't even recognize yourself. And then you don't know even how to get yourself out of ah situation. And what is the number one thing? Everybody thinks that you are going to be blamed.
00:17:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
They are going to blame you. You come forward, they will blame you. You either stay too long. You didn't stay long enough. You didn't help more people. You didn't say so you didn't say enough.
Inadequacies in Justice System for Abuse Cases
00:18:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
All of those things that you are inflicted with as a victim, as hopefully a survivor, um if you've made it out before someone has, you know, maybe, you know, made it so that you're no longer on this planet ah because they've victimized you so harshly before you could even get justice for yourself or stand up for yourself or stand up for others. um You know, the complexities of ah these cases. but
00:18:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
I wanted to speak to that. um It's not something that I normally do, um you know and but again, as a survivor myself and um being around these environments and wanting justice and seeing that, you know, these crimes are so difficult to so continue to prosecute. You know, we're in a society where, again, we do not take sex crimes seriously.
00:18:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
um seriously enough. We do not take abuses against children sexually, ah seriously enough. We do not take offenses in those in that stratosphere um serious enough.
00:19:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
And again, because sometimes there's so many wounds that are unseen. There's so many emotional and traumatizing scars that are invisible. when you are moving through your life and people think that you're okay because that's something that you can hide um unless it's completely just overtaking your life mentally and you know it's completely destroyed your mental health and then we start calling people crazy um when in fact they've just been horrifically victimized and i have unfortunately been very close up for others in the process of people just thinking what is wrong what has happened to this person
00:19:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, um you know, it turns out that they were just so horrifically victimized and, um you know, they have to find their way back to who they are and to health. And then they're just like this, like, you know, just really incredible, wonderful, amazing person once they get the help that they need.
Policy Reform in Circus Arts
00:20:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
And um so, you know, if you, again, this is why we are pursuing policy for the circus arts, because I feel very strongly and so many people do that we need policy. We need new policies within all of these industries, entertainment, performing arts, circus arts, to protect those working within the industry, just like they did in the fashion industry with the Fashion Workers Act, to protect those vulnerable within industries.
00:20:33
Circuspreneur Podcast
different, unique environments. And we need to have people at the seat of the table that are from our industries so that we can help to shape these narratives, that we can get more increased regulations, so that there are more, you know, ah you know, there's more resources that understand us and that understand our cases.
Upcoming Conference Presentation
00:20:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
um And so that we can redefine what this industry looks like. I'm so looking forward to presenting at PAMA, the Performing Arts Medicine Association Conference ah in D.C. coming up soon. And I'll be presenting three policies that, again, we continue to advocate for. It's the Circus Arts Category Recognition Bill by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Safe Art or Safe Circus Act, and That would be an extension or branch of division of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport and also to the Circus Workers Act, which would be a labor rights, union rights, workers rights and protect increased protections and ah legislation for the circus arts worker in America. So thank you so much for joining in to this this solo episode. And, um you know, if you...
00:21:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
need help, you know, ah reach out and advocate for yourself.
Support Resources and Conclusion
00:21:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
If you are in, you know, a difficult position, there are a lot of resources on RAINN. RAINN is a phenomenal resource ah for for any listener that's um being abused or is afraid for somebody else being abused.
00:22:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
They provide so many resources. They have a great hotline where you can get the help and the support, even if you want to stay anonymous and you just need to share information. something that's happening to you or going on with somebody that you know, or that you love, or that you care about, or someone that you just see in passing that you think needs to help.
00:22:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
So again, my name is Shanae Stiletto. Thank you so much for joining into this episode of the Circuspreneur podcast. Until next time, please stay safe and stay healthy.