Celebrity Mound

In 2004, he urged people to “vote or die” with a flashy campaign. This time around, Diddy let cameras into the voting booth with him.

“People died for us to have this right,” the rap mogul says in this clip, which shows him casting his vote in New York City Tuesday. “So to exercise this right today is to give back to Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and everyone who fought for us.”

“As a representative of the youth vote, you know, I think this year we’re going to shock the world and break all the numbers, all the records ever.”

Although he doesn’t specifically call out Barack Obama in the video, Diddy – who turns 39 on this election day – has made his support for the Democratic candidate clear in the past.

Referring to the black community, Diddy says, “We’re not going to vote for anyone just because they’re black. We’re going to vote for the best candidate. He has to be extra qualified for us to vote for him. ”

Fuel prices have grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Diddy.

Sean “Diddy” Combs complained about the “… too high” price of gas and pleaded for free oil from his “Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters” in a YouTube video posted Wednesday. The hip-hop mogul said he is now flying on commercial airlines instead of in private jets, which Combs said had previously cost him $200,000 and up for a roundtrip between New York and Los Angeles.

“I’m actually flying commercial,” Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. “That’s how high gas prices are. I’m at the gate right now. This is really happening, proof gas prices are too high. Tell whoever the next president is we need to bring gas prices down.”

During the 2004 presidential election, Diddy and his Citizen Change campaign, known best for its “Vote or Die” slogan, figured prominently in headlines about celebrities and politics. So where is Diddy this time around?

Here in Denver, there was some chatter among DNC organizers that led some to believe that Diddy had been asked specifically not to come.

“That’s completely untrue” was Diddy’s response when asked about being un-invited to the convention. A rep for Diddy confirms: “An Obama advisor invited Diddy to the convention, but he was unable to attend because he was supposed to be in L.A. on vacation with his family.”

Diddy and Obama share what his rep characterized as a “close relationship.” Indeed, Diddy posted a video on his Web site just after Obama won enough votes to get the nomination, and those in Diddy’s inner circle confirm that he’s been consistently supportive of the senator.

So why the backlash? One person who worked with Diddy in 2004 said, “He didn’t do the Democrats any favors with that Vote or Die campaign. It became more about getting the shirts out than people registered. He didn’t seem totally aware of the big picture — that there was a presidency involved.”

One publicist with close ties to a celebrity involved in the Obama campaign says that the McCain ad featuring Britney Spears and Paris Hilton has had an impact on celebrity involvement. “That ad took on a life of its own. No one wants to actually hurt the campaign, and I mean, really, it’s not hard for celebrities to steal the spotlight at times.”

There’s still a good bit of time before November. I think there’s good reason to believe there might be room for Diddy to contribute to the campaign effort before election time.

(source)

Diddy was introduced to the barrel of a gun early this morning.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ at around 3:00 AM, Puff Daddy, aka Diddy, aka Sean “Puffy” Combs, aka Sean Combs, was being driven by an entourage on the Sunset Strip. One of the cars didn’t have proper tags and deputies from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department made the stop.

We’re told the other three cars in the entourage stopped as well. It’s Sheriff Dept. policy to call for backup when other cars linger at a traffic stop. Backup arrived and the driver of the second car became “extremely uncooperative,” to the point he had to be detained. At that point, Diddy and the remaining five or six members of the entourage got out of their cars and began walking toward the detained member of their posse.

That’s when one deputy drew his weapon, not knowing what the dudes were up to. We’re told at the time the weapon was drawn, deputies did not know Diddy was part of the group.

Ultimately things became peaceful, the detained guy was let go and everyone lived happily ever after … for the rest of the night. BTW, the guy who was stopped — turns out he was in a rental car so he wasn’t ticketed.

(source)