Jennifer Lopez has once again been dragged into the controversy surrounding her ex-boyfriend Sean "Diddy" Combs, with an easily discredited theory going viral that the release of her musical film—which has been widely mocked—was timed to distract from the rapper's issues.
Hollywood A-lister Lopez has become the target of conspiracy theorists as Combs faces more scrutiny over allegations of sex trafficking.
Combs, 54, had his homes in Los Angeles and Miami raided on Monday by Homeland Security, which was conducting a search as part of a sex trafficking investigation, the Associated Press reported citing law enforcement sources.
The rapper has also been the subject of several civil lawsuits in recent months that accused him of sexual assault, trafficking, assault, fraud and forced drug-taking, including one in February by music producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones.
Combs has denied all claims against him and slammed Homeland Security's raids through statements issued via his lawyers.
Jones' lawsuit mentions Lopez, who dated Combs for two years until 2001. It references the 1999 incident in which the couple were arrested after leaving a New York nightclub following a shooting. Lopez's charges were immediately dropped; Combs was acquitted of charges relating to the incident, but his mentee, rapper Shyne, was convicted. Jones' lawsuit claims that Combs confessed to him that he was responsible for the shooting and alleges Lopez had carried the gun he used into the club that night for him.
Newsweek contacted Lopez's representatives by email for comment.
Amid mounting legal action around Combs over the past few months, Lopez finally released her passion project, a musical film called This Is Me... Now but has faced widespread ridicule for the semi-autobiographical movie and its accompanying behind-the-scenes documentary.
Many have poked fun at her constantly referencing her childhood in the Bronx, New York, with one TikTok user even referring to it as "New York cosplay." The same person also claimed the ridicule was perfectly timed to distract from the Combs drama.
"She's trying to distract us. What do you know about Diddy, Jennifer?" asked the TikToker, who goes by the name Cait and uses the handle @c8thagr8.
"Anyhow, that's what I think. I think she's just trying to divert our scent. What do you know? Jennifer."
At the time of writing the TikTok video had more than 166,200 views and been liked more than 32,000 times.
But others dismissed Cait's theory. "She's not distracting us from Diddy, she reminding us that she exists so we will ask her," replied one TikTok user in the comments.
And despite the social media theories, Lopez began working on the movie's accompanying album of the same name long before Diddy's lawsuits.
She started writing it during the COVID pandemic and publicly released details of the album as far back as 2022. The 13-track record celebrates the 20th-anniversary release of her third studio album, This Is Me... Then.
The musical movie and album were set for release in early 2023 but were not ready. Lopez then aimed for a September 2023 release but had to delay once again due to the actors' and writers' strikes.
The movie and documentary were eventually released on Amazon's Prime Video in February.
Update 3/27/24 11:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 3/28/24 12:43 p.m. ET: The headline to this story has changed.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
