Usher made his return to the red carpet on Thursday when he attended the Black Music Action Coalition’s Fourth Annual Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The outing, where he was to receive the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award, marked the first time the 45-year-old singer–songwriter has been pictured since the hip hop mogul Diddy was indicted and arrested on sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution charges.
Usher’s years-old connection to Diddy resurfaced shortly after the 54-year-old rapper’s homes in Miami and Los Angeles were raided in March of this year.
Around that time, a 2016 interview Usher did with Howard Stern resurfaced, in which he described his time living with Diddy for a year — even though he was only 13.
The Nice & Slow singer described observing ‘very curious things taking place’ in Diddy’s circle.
Usher cut a striking figure at the BMAC gala red carpet in an all-black ensemble built around a velvet tuxedo.
He wore a double-breasted jacket with wide, shiny peaked lapels, and he changed up the tux’s look with a black shirt and a black necktie, instead of a traditional bow tie.
He wore a delicate pink flower pinned to his lapel, and he matched the tuxedo with shiny black snakeskin shoes.
Usher — full name: Usher Raymond IV — added an extra touch of class with a slim rectangular-faced wristwatch with a black leather band, and he stood out thanks to small rectangular sapphire earrings.
He arrived at the event sporting a well-kept goatee and close-cropped hair.
According to BMAC’s website, the organization was created in 2020 to ‘create a unified force of action for racial equity and justice within the music industry and to use the power of our collective voice to improve communities and drive systemic change.’
It was announced in August that Usher would be honored with the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award at the ceremony.
Other honorees included LL Cool J, BET and Live Nation, while Kenny Burns was set to host.
LL Cool J was to be honored with the eClarence Avant Trailblazer Award.
In addition to honoring stars, BMAC also issues a report card grading music organizations — which include record labels, publishers and streaming services, as well as live entertainment and touring companies and the Recording Academy — on how they help Black employees ascend the ranks.
It also notes whether those organizations have donated to charities aimed at improving racial justice.
Usher was receiving his award in the wake of his former mentor Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ indictment and arrest earlier this week on sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution charges.
The rapper-turned-mogul has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He suffered a set back prior to his trial when a judge denied his request for bail, despite his offer to put up his home and his mother’s home as a $50 million surety.
Disturbing details of the rapper’s marathon sex parties were exposed in the three-count indictment, including that Combs would fly sex workers from around the world for what would often become drug-fueled days-long orgies.
He allegedly arranged and directed the sex parties, while masturbating throughout the performance and supplied women drugs such as ecstasy, ketamine and BHB to keep them energized, federal prosecutors said.
The document added: ‘After freak offs, Combs and the victims typically received IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use’.
Prosecutors said that the music mogul’s employees covertly booked hotel rooms for the ‘freak offs,’ while stocking them with baby oil, lubricant and extra bed sheets.
Authorities allegedly discovered over 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant in his homes while searching them earlier this year.
Usher previously spoke about his time living with Diddy for a year when he was only 13 years old during a 2016 Howard Stern interview.
It received renewed attention earlier this year when Diddy’s Miami and Los Angeles homes were raided by Homeland Security agents.
At the time, Usher claimed he was exposed to some ‘pretty wild’ stuff while living at Diddy’s New York mansion.
The Yeah! hitmaker alleged that it was LA Reid’s idea to have him live with the R&B singer in Scarsdale to ‘see the lifestyle.’
When asked if Diddy’s ‘place was filled with chicks and orgying nonstop’ by Stern, Usher replied: ‘Not really… I got a chance to see some things … I don’t know if I could indulge and even understand what I was looking at.’
‘It was pretty wild. It was crazy. There were very curious things taking place and I didn’t necessarily understand it,’ he said cryptically.
He was more definitive when he was asked if he would ever send his children to ‘Puffy Flavor Camp.’
Usher responded with an emphatic: ‘Hell no!’
Back in 2004, Usher told Rolling Stone that Diddy introduced him to ‘a totally different set of s*** — sex, specifically.’
‘Sex is so hot in the industry, man,’ he continued. ‘There was always girls around. You’d open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen.’
