President Donald Trump’s birthday extravaganza was soundtracked by one of the music industry’s most disgraced figures.
Thousands of spectators on Sunday flocked to the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where giant screens have been set up to broadcast the UFC fights Trump is hosting for his 80th birthday in an arena built on the White House South Lawn.
As the spectators waited for the games, which were delayed an hour due to stormy weather, music from Sean “Diddy” Combs blasted from the speakers—an eyebrow-raising choice given the rapper’s dramatic fall from grace.
In a video posted by journalist Goad Gatsby, “Feel So Good” by rapper Mase could be heard booming across the venue. The 1997 track, Mase’s debut single, features backing vocals from Combs, who also produced it and appears in its music video. The hit was released by Combs’s record label Bad Boy Records.
“Do Ma$e got the ladies? Do Puff drive Mercedes?” Combs sings on the song’s bridge.
“Let me say this, playing Puff Daddy/Diddy at this UFC event at the White House is quite a decision,” Gatsby wrote.
The 56-year-old music mogul, whom Trump once called a “good friend,” is currently incarcerated at a low-security federal prison in New Jersey, where he is serving a 50-month sentence after being convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution last July.
The use of the Combs-produced track at Trump’s birthday bash is all the more notable given that Combs’ lawyers have previously gotten in touch with the White House about a potential pardon.
Combs was accused of manipulating women and leveraging his business empires to run drug-induced, humiliating sex performances known as “freak-offs” that lasted up to four days.
The rapper, who is 21 months into his 50-month sentence, was acquitted by the jury of his sex trafficking and racketeering charges, which could have resulted in a life-in-prison sentence.
In August last year, Combs’ lawyers said his team had held “conversations in reference to a pardon” with the White House, and it later emerged that Combs had written a letter to Trump seeking a pardon.
The president, who has granted a number of controversial pardons, told The New York Times in January that Combs had “asked me for a pardon,” but that he was not considering granting the request.
Trump told Newsmax in an interview last year that he had been “very friendly” with Combs. “I got along with him great, and seemed like a nice guy,” he said.
Though Combs’ release is currently set for May 2028, he could shave up to a year off his sentence by successfully completing Fort Dix’s 9-12-month substance abuse treatment.
