Diddy’s famous friends have been criticized for staying silent amid his arrest. Crisis PR experts say it’s good strategy.

For Eric Schiffer, a crisis PR expert and chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, he’d recommend the topic be completely “off limits” in his client’s interviews and public appearances — both for brand maintenance and potential safety concerns.

“I wouldn’t let them be asked about it,” Schiffer told BI. “Assuming that I had a client that fell into that category, I would not have them comment for many reasons.”

“What you’re seeing today is a combination of fear, both from the celebrities and their teams about their brands being severely destroyed over ties to Diddy, or worse, that he could wreak havoc on them personally because of retribution,” Schiffer added.

As BI previously reported, a federal judge has ordered that Combs remain in jail to await trial after prosecutors argued he could attempt to meddle with the investigation. The judge cited the music mogul’s alleged history of violence, telling Combs in court, “I don’t know that you can control yourself.”

If Combs doesn’t switch to a guilty plea, a trial — which would likely take place about a year from now — would almost certainly feature testimony from Combs’ employees, Ventura, and other potential victims.

Prosecutors can subpoena people around Combs, forcing them to take the witness stand and swear under oath about what they saw. Combs might also try to summon friends to his defense to testify on his behalf.

But until that day comes — and the PR strategy is handed over from publicists to lawyers — celebrities whose names have been dragged into the fray have no obligation to speak on Combs’ legal woes.

Nierman also noted that Combs has not been convicted yet, which could make wading into the discussion even riskier.

“I would advise against a rush to judgment, just because everyone is entitled to their day in court and everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” Nierman said. “Now, does it look really bad for him right now? Does there seem to be a lot to be concerned about? The answer is yes. Could he ultimately be convicted? Absolutely. But we don’t yet know.”

One move that PR experts wouldn’t recommend? Wiping social media pages

Usher, who lived with Combs when he was a teenager and continued to keep his company into adulthood, made headlines on Sunday when he deleted all his posts on X (formerly Twitter).

Many people found the timing to be suspicious, and Usher’s relationship with Combs quickly became a trending topic on the platform.

Later that night, Usher reappeared on X, claiming his account got hacked and the public simply “ran with it” — but according to Schiffer, the damage had already been done.

“It’s a giant red flag, and it brings up the whole concept of the Streisand effect, wherein the attempt to try to hide information, you’re only bringing more attention to it,” he explained. “It’s foolish because the media can ultimately get the things that are being suppressed.”

Nierman agreed that he would not advise a client to scrub their socials in this kind of situation, describing the move as “raising more questions than it answers.”

“Imagine if nothing had changed and he was as active as he’d normally been and was posting about the typical material, no one would’ve even noticed,” Nierman said. “It definitely raises eyebrows and makes you focus more if your account suddenly is wiped clean.”

Nierman also added that claiming to be hacked is “a played-out tactic” that many fans won’t buy at face value.

“No one really knows, other than Usher and his team, what happened. Was it an accident that he did something? Did they do it by design? Was he actually hacked?” Nierman said. “It’s hard to know, but it is strange.”

At this stage, with a relative lack of information available to the public, the PR advice from both Nierman and Schiffer would be fairly straightforward: Don’t engage, don’t draw attention to yourself, and don’t jump to any conclusions.

“You’re at the mercy of how the prosecutor’s going to play this. There likely will be other charges,” Schiffer said. “So you want to allow it to roll out. And you never know what Diddy’s going to do.”