In the news
■ Homeland Security agents raided Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami this week as part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation, law enforcement sources told CNN.com. Armed agents in bulletproof vests were seen removing items from the rap and liquor mogul’s 17,000-squarefoot estate outside Beverly Hills. At least four women have recently filed civil suits against Combs, 54, accusing him of rape, sex trafficking a minor, and other abuses. Producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a federal lawsuit in February accusing Combs of sexually harassing and threatening him—and of using hidden cameras to film people who took part in “freak-off parties” attended by prostitutes and underage girls. A spokesperson for Combs said he “denies these absurd allegations.”
■ Rebel Wilson went on an Instagram tirade against Sasha Baron Cohen this week, calling the Borat star a “massive asshole” for allegedly hiring “a crisis PR manager and lawyers” to try to stop her from writing about him in an upcoming memoir. The Australian actress said a chapter of the book, Rebel Rising, focuses on Baron Cohen, her co-star in the 2016 comedy The Brothers Grimsby. Wilson had previously hinted at on-set disagreements, telling an Australian radio show that Baron Cohen had repeatedly pressured her to veer off-script, suggesting she “get naked” and “stick your finger up my butt.” A spokesperson for Baron Cohen said Wilson’s Grimsby claims were “demonstrably false.”
■ Former Nickelodeon mogul Dan Schneider said he owes “some people a pretty strong apology” following the release of a documentary that paints a toxic picture of the children’s network during his heyday in the 1990s and 2000s. In HBO’s Quiet on Set, writers, former child actors, and crew members said Schneider—the producer behind iCarly, The Amanda Show, and other hits—forced female crew members to give him massages, berated adult employees and young stars until they cried, and wove sexually suggestive jokes into kids’ shows. Schneider was fired from the network in 2018. Former Drake & Josh star Drake Bell, now 37, also revealed in the documentary that he was sexually abused as a teen by Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck, who in 2004 was convicted of child sexual abuse. “They still show our shows,” Bell said of the network. “And I have to pay for my own therapy.”