Combs’ defense claims that a “witness generally cannot testify that in his opinion, a declarant was lying when making a statement”

(L-R) Sean “Diddy” Combs, Kid Cudi.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ defense team is asking for Kid Cudi’s testimony about the destruction of the rapper’s Porsche and the claims that Combs was behind it to be struck from the record.

The car was set on fire by an “incendiary device” in 2012, according to police reports obtained by Rolling Stone. Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, confirmed the incident to The New York Times in 2023.

On May 22, 2025, the ninth day of Combs’ ongoing sex trafficking trial, Mescudi testified that a Molotov cocktail destroyed his Porsche.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson questions rapper Kid Cudi as he testifies at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial in New York City, New York, U.S., May 22, 2025.REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

Mescudi said that on the day of the explosion, he got a call from his dog-sitter saying that his “car was on fire.” While on his way back home, he got a picture of the burnt vehicle from a friend.

The rapper said his car was beyond repair by the time he got home, noting, “The top of my Porsche was cut open and that’s where they inserted the Molotov cocktail.”

The incident came after Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and Cudi dated on-and-off again in 2011 while she and Combs, who dated until 2018, “weren’t in the greatest place.”

Ventura previously testified that Combs became jealous after she found out about them and allegedly threatened to have Mescudi’s car blown up.

Damages on Kid Cudi’s car, as shown in Combs’s trial.SDNY

Mescudi testified that he believed the music mogul “was lying” when Diddy claimed not to know what he was talking about when asked about the car explosion during a meeting at the Soho House in Los Angeles with Ventura.

“What are we going to do about my car?” Mescudi recalled allegedly asking Combs, to which the Bad Boy Records founder reportedly answered, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

According to Mescudi, however, the two allegedly encountered each other again at the Soho House a few years later, during which Combs reportedly said he wanted to “apologize for everything.” Mescudi said he “found peace” with what had happened.

Now, Combs’ defense is asking for his testimony to be struck and precluded going forward as a “witness generally cannot testify that in his opinion, a declarant was lying when making a statement.”

Combs’ defense team claims that Mescudi’s testimony was “mere speculation,” and poses “significant dangers of unfair prejudice” against him.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.Shareif Ziyadat/Getty

The Bad Boy Records founder is currently facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, which he has adamantly denied.

His team said that: “Mescudi’s speculation about Combs’s involvement had minimal probative value, whereas the danger of unfair prejudice, particularly since he was opining about an ultimate issue as to which he was the alleged victim—whether Combs was guilty of arson, one of the charged racketeering acts—was great.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Mescudi’s representative for comment.

PEOPLE reached out to the Los Angeles Fire Department about the alleged car explosion, but were told “the Risk Management Division of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department does not have responsive records from 2012. It is past our retention period.”