Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, supports Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs at trial

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, was at the New York sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday to support the hip-hop mogul, a longtime friend.

Ye, dressed in white, arrived at Manhattan federal court before noon while the trial was on a break and spent about 40 minutes in the building.

He did not get into the main court room and instead watched on a closed-circuit monitor in an overflow room.

Asked if he was at the court to support Combs, he said “yes” and nodded.

He then moved quickly to a lift and did not appear to respond when a reporter asked if he might give evidence on Combs’ behalf when the defence begins presenting its case as early as next week.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges alleging that he used his fame, fortune and violence to commit crimes over a 20-year period.

Ye’s appearance at the court came a day after a woman identified in court only by the pseudonym “Jane” finished six days of giving evidence.

She said that during a relationship with Combs that stretched from 2021 until his arrest last September at a Manhattan hotel, she felt coerced into having sex with male sex workers while Combs watched.

Defence lawyers have argued that Combs committed no crimes and that federal prosecutors were trying to police consensual sex between adults.

On Thursday, Jane said that during a three-month break in her relationship with Combs, she flew to Las Vegas in January 2023 with a famous rapper who was close friends with Combs.

Before Jane’s evidence on the subject, lawyers and the judge conducted a lengthy hearing out of public view to discuss what could be divulged about the January trip.

Jane was asked if the rapper she accompanied, along with the rapper’s girlfriend, was “an individual at the top of the music industry as well as an icon in the music industry”.

“Yes,” Jane replied.

Once in Las Vegas, Jane said, she went with a group including the rapper to dinner, a strip club and a hotel room party, where a sex worker had sex with a woman while half a dozen others watched.

She said there was dancing and the rapper said “hey beautiful”, and told her he had always wanted to have sex with her, in crude terms.

Jane said she did not recall exactly when, but she flashed her breasts while dancing.