Right now Sean “Diddy” Combs’ name is on everyone’s lips, albeit for the worst possible reasons. While unintentional, Selena Gomez also made a Diddy slip during her speech at her Rare Impact Fund Benefit at nya Studios West in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 24.
The actress was talking about how delighted she was to work with “incredible changemakers” at her annual charity event. At first, everything went smoothly as she spoke about her charity’s mission, specifically its work with the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services (DHMS).
The organization is “the home to the first and largest suicide prevention center” in America catering to the youth. The 32-year-old Rare Beauty founder addressed the few hundred guests and said:
“They are committed to youth mental health, from suicide prevention, training in schools to their drop-in center here in L.A., and their Teen Line lifeline. I am very honored to be working with such incredible changemakers.”
When it was time to introduce DHMS’ executive director, she accidentally called Hirsch “Diddy” instead of Didi, which is pronounced “dee-dee.” Gomez was as quick to pick up on her mistake, as the guests, who just laughed about it alongside her. She then invited executive Lyn Morris and another DHMS executive to the stage before she muffled an embarrassed “I really am sorry” and turned her back to the guests. It’s easy to mispronounce those two names as they sound similar so the singer gets a pass for this laughable snafu.
Over at X, some were also quick to point out her error with one going so far as to accuse her of putting malice into Hirsch’s name writing: “She should not have paused, should’ve just straight up mentioned her full name. Selena is the one putting malice into Ms. Didi’s name. Guilty.”
Meanwhile, others defended the Only Murders in the Building star for the understandable mishap. Another commented: “Didi can be mispronounced as “Diddy”. Get over it. Moving on …” and one more agreed that it was simply a case of mispronunciation noting: “She didn’t bring up diddy. she mispronounced didi. which isn’t hard to do ugh.”
It’s easy to make a fuss over anyone who so much as mentions or declares to have any association with Diddy given his status now. The Bad Boy Records founder is battling sex trafficking, racketeering, and sexual abuse allegations. Although he has maintained his innocence and has his family’s full support, he is still in jail as he awaits a federal trial.
He was arrested on Sept. 16 and is now booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York without bail. He is far from the glimmer of Hollywood society, with whom he used to rub shoulders with during his now-infamous white parties.
One user at X even joked that, like Voldermort, Diddy is now “he who must not be named” and wrote: “Shhh . . . The name we shall not mention.” Another said: “Diddy don’t belong to society.”
This is the second year that Gomez hosted the Rare Impact Fund Benefit, which raises funds for organizations that focus on providing mental health services to the youths. Aside from her Diddy snafu, everything went smoothly at the event. In a red-carpet interview with People, the actress said the charity is the “most important thing” she does with her time. She also shared her hope that it has “helped people feel less alone.”