Armon Wiggins vows to move forward with “greater care” after facing backlash for joining an oil-soaked celebration with fans of Sean “Diddy” Combs, after the verdict in the music mogul’s two-month trial.
Cameras recorded a shirtless Wiggins dancing around in sagging jeans outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan, as excited fans squirted him with oil on Wednesday, July 2, after Combs was found not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking, but convicted on two lesser prostitution counts.
Media outlets — including NBC News, CBS New York, and The Shade Room — posted video of cheering fans dousing each other with oil.
Wiggins covered the trial for his hundreds of thousands of subscribers on multiple platforms.
After he was identified as the shirtless man in the viral video, he issued an apology on July 3, saying the footage was “taken out of context.”
“What started as a lighthearted moment [and] part of a long-running joke with my audience was misinterpreted as support for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. That was never my intention,” his statement read.
Related: Cassie, Dawn Richard, Aubrey O’Day React to Diddy Verdict With ‘Disappointment’
During the trial, Diddy’s ex-girlfriends Cassie Ventura and a woman using the pseudonym “Jane” alleged the mogul “forced” them to have sex with male escorts and use bottles of baby oil during drug-fueled “freak-off” sex parties. The mogul’s attorneys countered the sex was consensual.
Wiggins said it was never his intention to trivialize the women’s allegations.
“That moment was about sharing a bit of levity with the community that’s been on this journey with me, nothing more,” he shared. “Still, I fully understand how the timing and optics may have felt hurtful, especially to survivors of abuse. I sincerely apologize to anyone who was impacted or disappointed. This has been a reminder to move with greater care, and I remain committed to doing this work with integrity and heart.”
Reaction on his Instagram page to the statement was mixed.
“So many folks were rooting for you and instead you used your platform at the end of this long trial to root for an abuser and absolute monster,” one person wrote.
But another replied, “People and their biased views, I couldn’t stop laughing. More oil, more oil. Looks like a fun moment!”
Urban Hollywood 411 interviewed Civil Rights attorney Areva Martin for her reaction to the verdict. When asked her thoughts on people squirting baby oil on each other outside the courthouse, she did not hold back.
“[It’s] the lowest common denominator,” Martin said, before criticizing the media for covering the spectacle. “I’m not even sure, is everything newsworthy? I would argue ‘no,’ and I think that conduct in particular wasn’t very newsworthy.”
The attorney added that the violence Cassie and Jane testified about was no laughing matter.
“Look, at the end of the day, we saw reprehensible domestic violence. So no matter what you think about the outcome of this case, what is undeniable, what his lawyers even acknowledge, was that he was a violent man, that he beat women, that he said he loved,” Martin added. “So how [do] you celebrate someone who has that kind of history of violence? It’s very strange to me.”
Following the verdict, Judge Arun Subramanian denied a defense request to release Combs on $1 million bond, citing the mogul’s “propensity of violence,” CNN reported.
The rapper and producer is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3. He faces anywhere from time served in jail to 20 years in prison, with each prostitution count carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.
A remote hearing will be held on Tuesday, July 8 about the next pre-sentencing steps.
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