Kamala Harris, AOC, Al Sharpton eulogize Sean “Diddy” Combs at 2020 COVID town hall honoring African Americans

Vice President Harris praised Sean “Diddy” Combs during a town hall meeting focused on coronavirus and African Americans.

The two-hour April 2020 event was co-hosted by CNN political commentator Van Jones and also featured the Rev. Al Sharpton and “Squad” members Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).

“Hey everyone, I’m so excited to be here with you tonight. Sean, I want to thank you because you always have a way of bringing people together and bringing them together,” Harris said on the call. She later sent out a complimentary tweet that was widely derided on social media.

The event also featured New York Times columnist Charles Blow, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and pundit Angela Rye, who called Diddy “my real brother.”

“Somebody has to step up and sound the alarm and I want to thank you and commend you (Diddy) for having the platform that you have and having the heart that you have, it’s incredible that you could possibly save a bunch of lives tonight,” Van Jones said as he kicked off the show.

“I was fortunate to spend time with Diddy. The passion and love this brother has for our survival, success, growth and fulfillment is unmatched and we are just getting started,” Jones later added.

When it was Sharpton’s turn to speak, he and Diddy became emotional.

“I’ve known him since he was a teenager, and he’s always been a laggard and never really gotten the credit he should have gotten as the cultural icon that he is,” Sharpton said.

“I call Al papa, if you don’t know. That’s my papa over there,” Diddy later responded. The rapper donated $2,000 to Sharpton’s 2004 presidential campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.

AOC and Pressley shared their praise.

“Thank you so much Van and thank you also Diddy,” AOC said.

Pressley added: “I just want to thank Diddy for using his platform in this way. I’m grateful to have a vehicle and a platform that is unapologetically Black.”

The call focused on the impact of alleged racism on Black Americans during the pandemic and the rising death rate from the coronavirus. Camara Phyllis Jones, an anti-racism expert and epidemiologist at Emory University, said Black people are being denied ventilators because of their race.

Diddy ended the call by thanking “Camilla Harris” — and expressing his hope for a pandemic of love.

“There is a cure and that cure is love. That cure is love. If we all really take care of each other, we will have a different kind of virus. It is called the love virus. We cannot love anyone else if we do not love ourselves.”

Before his spectacular fall from grace in the wake of federal sex trafficking charges, Combs was a fixture in American culture and Democratic politics. During the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns, his group Citizen Change helped promote voter turnout with the slogan “Vote or Die.”