A photograph circulating on-line claims to point out a younger Kamala Harris posing beside music magnate Sean “Diddy” Combs, who faces federal intercourse trafficking costs.
A Sept. 17 Fb publish shared a screenshot of an X publish with this photograph, which seems to point out Harris at an occasion with Combs and one other girl. The X publish’s caption learn, “The Diddy Consumer Record goes all the way in which to the highest.”
The Fb publish was flagged as a part of Meta’s efforts to fight false information and misinformation on its Information Feed. (Learn extra about our partnership with Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and Threads.)
Customers on X additionally shared this photograph of Harris, vp and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
(Screengrabs from Fb and Getty Pictures)
However the picture was altered.
A reverse-image search utilizing Google Pictures discovered that the unique photograph was taken Could 18, 2001, on the eighth annual Race to Erase A number of Sclerosis on the Century Plaza Lodge in Century Metropolis, California, in response to Getty Pictures.
The person standing beside Harris is discuss present host Montel Williams, not Combs. Harris and Williams briefly dated within the early 2000s. The opposite girl within the photograph is Montel Williams’ daughter, Ashley Williams.
Montel Williams responded Sept. 17 to an X publish sharing this altered picture, saying “Right here they go once more with ‘all black individuals look alike … ’” The X publish sharing the altered picture has since been deleted.
In 2020, Harris posted on X, thanking Combs for internet hosting an internet city corridor about racial inequity and the COVID-19 pandemic. Harris, then a Democratic U.S. senator from California, spoke on the occasion.
Harris’ X publish resurfaced following Combs’ Sept. 16 arrest in New York Metropolis. Combs pleaded not responsible to federal costs of racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking, and transportation to interact in prostitution. A federal choose ordered Combs to stay in jail whereas he awaits trial.
However the 2001 photograph doesn’t present Harris and Combs posing collectively. We fee this declare False.