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A journalist has won her fight to force Elon Musk to disclose the list of people who funded his acquisition of Twitter, and one name on the list stands out the most.
As court documents resulting from an identity request by reporter and author Jacob Silverman reveal, Musk’s purchase of Twitter was funded by everyone from Saudi Arabian prince and Harvard investor Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and, perhaps most oddly, rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, whose involvement in the deal had been rumored by TMZ but never confirmed until now.
Combs has been in the news in recent months after being accused of a number of serious crimes, ranging from sex trafficking and domestic violence to his involvement in a conspiracy to kill Tupac Shakur.
Though he’d been accused of network rumors and the subject of headline-grabbing violent altercations for years, the world first learned the startling details of the rapper’s abusive tendencies last fall, when his ex-girlfriend, fellow musician Cassie Ventura, filed a lawsuit against him alleging that she physically and sexually assaulted him.
Despite the severity of the allegations in that quickly settled lawsuit and many subsequent ones, Musk has yet to make a public statement or acknowledge Combs’ investment, even though he once considered the rapper a “good friend,” according to a forthcoming book by two New York Times reporters.
Puff Puff Pass
Combs’ auction was no small drama, journalist Ryan Mack noted in an X post featuring an excerpt from his upcoming book, “Character Limit,” co-written with New York Times technology reporter Kate Conger.
During his first week as owner of the social network, in a conversation with DeTavio Samuels, CEO of Revolt TV, the media empire that represents Diddy’s future, Musk sought to ease advertiser fears about racist trolls on the platform who appear to have been emboldened by his acquisition.
During the call, Samuels said he was concerned about Musk’s “approach to content moderation,” likening it to people whispering racist slurs around or around him on the street, making it clear to the brash billionaire that he had problems with how Musk runs his business.
Musk ultimately agreed with the Revolt CEO, but revealed Combs’ investment at that point in the conversation.
“I don’t know if you know this, but Puff is an investor on Twitter,” the white South African said, referring to Diddy’s former stage name. “He’s a good friend of mine and we email each other a lot.”
Mack writes that the injunction was so embarrassing that “some Twitter executives had to suppress the urge to hold their heads in their hands and cry,” and with these revelations now apparent, they are likely to continue to do so.
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