R&B and pop star Usher‘s 7,000 tweets accumulated over 14 years… are all just gone. Vanished into the digital void without a trace.
This sudden purge is happening right in the middle of the explosive scandal engulfing his bestie and hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. Coincidence? I think not.
Diddy, 54, found himself in a world of trouble last September when a tidal wave of charges and accusations crashed down on him – racketeering, sex trafficking, kidnapping, sexual abuse, even sickening allegations involving minors. The indictment reads like a depraved playbook of Diddy’s twisted sexcapades, multi-day bacchanals he dubbed “freak offs” where he allegedly browbeat victims, some not even old enough to drive, into debasing sex acts.
During the March raids on Diddy’s lavish homes in Los Angeles and Miami, Federal agents seized a staggering 1,000 bottles of baby oil, which seemed to be an essential component of his rituals. Federal agents have also uncovered hidden cameras, sex toys, and bondage gear. If that wasn’t disturbing enough, some of Diddy’s victims were reportedly transported across state lines. Diddy has even been accused of grooming a man into same-sex abuse.
As the scandal continues to mushroom, Diddy’s past TV appearances are being dissected with a fine-toothed comb. Like Diddy’s 2002 appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien when Diddy dished creepy details of his freakouts. Or that resurfaced video of 38-year-old Diddy palling around with 15-year-old Justin Bieber. Locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, some wonder if Diddy might get “Epsteined.” After all, several in Diddy’s inner circle were allegedly co-conspirators.
Which brings us back to Usher’s vanishing tweets. Usher, you see, goes way back with Diddy. As a 14-year-old in 1994, Usher lived with Diddy to get a taste of “the lifestyle.” And oh, what an education young Usher got. In a 2016 Howard Stern interview, Usher cagily described witnessing “very curious things” at Diddy’s place that he “didn’t necessarily understand.” Orgies and sex everywhere, Stern prodded? “Not really,” Usher demurred, before conceding it was “pretty wild” and “crazy.” Hmmm.
This echoes Usher’s even more revealing 2004 Rolling Stone interview. “Sex is so hot in the industry, man,” Usher recalled of his time chez Diddy. He also recalled how Diddy had introduced him to “a totally different set of s–t – sex, specifically.” Usher painted a lurid picture of an atmosphere thick with sexual encounters so casual and frequent they could open a door to find people in the midst of intercourse or group activities without any forewarning.
Yikes. In light of the Diddy revelations, Usher’s pubescent reminiscences take on a much more troubling hue. No wonder Usher’s team is suddenly keen to memory-hole his online history. But disappearing nearly a decade and a half of posts only makes Usher look more suspect. Look, none of this is conclusive. But in an industry long plagued by sexual predation and exploitation, Usher’s move feels like part of an all-too-familiar pattern — the panicked erasing of a problematic past in the face of accountability.