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| - In mid-October 2024, ahead of the U.S. presidential election, a viral photograph spread online purportedly showing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris standing next to hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, who was arrested in mid-September 2024 on suspicion of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and interstate transportation for prostitution.
The Democratic nominee appeared to be wearing a white dress with a low-cut neckline, while Combs was wearing a silver tuxedo.
One X user shared the image with the caption: "Kamala's team has spent more than $5 million having images of her with Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs bleached from the internet. It would be such a shame if this made the rounds."
(X user @lucaforsure)
However, the above image had been edited and was therefore fake. Harris' face was, in fact, added to the picture in place of another woman.
Google's reverse image search tool revealed the manipulated photo was based on a real image of Combs from 2019. The original version showed the rapper, in the same clothes, standing with fashion stylist Misa Hylton, who shares a son with the rapper and could be seen in the same dress as Harris.
In fact, the original picture of Combs and Hylton was cropped, horizontally flipped and blurred, as well as edited, to include Harris' face and create the fake iteration. Such techniques are often used when fake photos of public figures spread online.
The unedited photograph was available on Getty Images. Its caption read: "Sean Combs and Misa Hylton attend Sean Combs 50th Birthday Bash presented by Ciroc Vodka on December 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California."
(Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
The Getty image featured identical individuals in the background, standing at the same angles (albeit horizontally flipped) as the post on X.
In March 2024, Combs' properties were raided as part of an ongoing investigation. As of this writing, the rapper is facing numerous court cases over sexual assault allegations and is in jail awaiting trial.
This was not the first time Snopes covered claims connecting Harris to Combs. We debunked another false rumor that a video showed Harris at a party with the music mogul, when the man she was pictured with was actually Montel Williams, a television host and actor.
Snopes also fact-checked a fake photograph that edited Combs' face onto Williams, and we covered how Harris wrote in a 2020 X post that she thanked Combs for hosting a town hall about the COVID-19 pandemic.
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