With a violent 2016 surveillance video made public on Friday exhibiting rapper-mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs kicking, dragging, and throwing an object at his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura within the hallways of a luxurious resort, the general public reckoning dealing with Diddy is reaching a brand new boiling level.
The graphic video, obtained and revealed by CNN, appeared to substantiate some particulars alleged in Ventura’s November lawsuit towards Combs. In keeping with CNN, the footage was filmed on March 5, 2016, at a now-shuttered InterContinental resort in Los Angeles.
The tape exhibits Ventura, a singer who performs beneath the title Cassie, strolling down a hallway towards elevators, and Combs working after her in a towel. He throws her to the bottom and repeatedly kicks her, after which makes an attempt to tug her down the hallway, presumably again to their room, although she frees herself. Later, he throws a vase at Ventura.
On Sunday, Combs posted a minute-long apology on Instagram acknowledging that it was him captured on the footage. “My conduct on that video is inexcusable,” he stated. “I take full duty for my actions in that video. I used to be disgusted then after I did it, and I’m disgusted now.” He stated he sought remedy and rehab however didn’t point out Ventura particularly.
In her lawsuit, Ventura, who dated Combs and was signed to his label, alleged that he abused her, urged her to have intercourse with male intercourse staff whereas he filmed, and that he later raped her. That lawsuit included allegations of a 2016 incident on the InterContinental resort.
In a press release on the time of the swimsuit, Combs’s legal professional responded that, “Ms. Ventura has now resorted to submitting a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s status and looking for a payday.” However the publication of the video this week, and Combs’s subsequent apology, provides a layer of corroboration to no less than among the accusations made towards the rapper.
Meredith Firetog, a accomplice within the agency Wigdor LLP, which represents Ventura, responded to Diddy’s apology video this weekend in a press release that learn, partially: “Combs’ most up-to-date assertion is extra about himself than the many individuals he has damage … That he was solely compelled to ‘apologize’ as soon as his repeated denials have been confirmed false exhibits his pathetic desperation, and nobody will probably be swayed by his disingenuous phrases.”
Ventura’s case, settled sooner or later after it was filed, set off a torrent of comparable lawsuits, a number of of which embrace brutal and disturbing particulars. Plaintiffs state that Diddy — whose beginning title is Sean Combs and who has additionally publicly passed by Puff Daddy, Puffy, and Love — raped them and, in some instances, trafficked them by coercing them to have interaction in intercourse with different males. Collectively, the instances have redirected public consideration towards longstanding allegations of violence towards Combs, main some manufacturers to chop ties with him and Hulu to scrap his upcoming actuality present.
Hypothesis across the accusations escalated as houses in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore linked to Diddy have been raided by federal authorities, who revealed that the raids have been linked to an ongoing investigation into intercourse trafficking allegations.
Combs has denied the allegations, saying in a December assertion, “I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll battle for my title, my household and for the reality.”
Particularly within the Nineties and 2000s, Diddy was a determine of monumental energy, not simply in hip-hop however within the enterprise and leisure worlds writ giant. In latest months, nonetheless, a number of folks have sued him, saying he used that affect and wealth to sexually victimize and, in some instances, site visitors them, whereas avoiding penalties for many years.
The instances have captured the general public’s consideration partially as a result of Combs was such an influential government and gatekeeper in music and vogue, but one who had lengthy been the topic of allegations of violence, together with arrests. They’re among the many first main allegations in years towards a significant determine within the music business, which many really feel has did not reckon with abuses of energy, even on the top of the Me Too motion. Combs is only one of many highly effective males who’ve evaded scrutiny however whose alleged previous conduct is being revisited with contemporary and extra crucial eyes — in some instances due to the landmark New York legal guidelines which have allowed folks alleging sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits previous the time interval specified by the statute of limitations.
Certainly, Combs is now drawing comparisons to R. Kelly, with frequent critic 50 Cent saying that he’ll produce a collection about Combs within the type of the bombshell docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, with the proceeds going to assault survivors.
Dream Hampton, producer of Surviving R. Kelly, advised the Instances late final 12 months that an accounting was arriving for the Unhealthy Boy founder. “Puff is finished,” she stated.
The fits towards Combs additionally present that regardless of latest backlash, the Me Too motion and the authorized and cultural modifications that got here with it have had an everlasting impression. Even when allegations of sexual assault and harassment don’t make every day headlines the way in which they did in 2017, the reckoning is ongoing — and no business is prone to stay immune eternally.
Diddy constructed an empire throughout a number of companies
Combs is a producer and rapper who rose to be an influential determine throughout music, media, and vogue. He began Unhealthy Boy Information in New York in 1993, when he was in his early 20s, and shortly signed Infamous B.I.G., whose two albums helped outline New York hip-hop in that period. Unhealthy Boy grew right into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, and Combs produced iconic ’90s acts from Jodeci to Mary J. Blige. When Biggie was killed in 1997, Combs launched a Grammy-winning tribute, “I’ll Be Lacking You,” which “helped inaugurate a business increase in hip-hop that lasted till the top of the nineties,” in response to Michael Specter of the New Yorker.
Combs was additionally one of many first to mix the worlds of hip-hop, enterprise, and luxurious. His vogue label, Sean John, based in 1998, turned identified for high-end menswear. He promoted manufacturers of vodka and tequila and hosted unique white events within the Hamptons with visitors like Martha Stewart. Although not as central a determine as he was within the ’90s, Combs stays a wealthy and well-connected superstar: Inside a span of weeks final fall, he held a joint album launch and celebration attended by stars corresponding to Naomi Campbell and Janet Jackson, carried out for a sold-out crowd in London, and appeared on the homecoming celebration for his alma mater, Howard College, the place he made a shock $1 million donation.
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As Combs constructed his empire, nonetheless, he was accused of a number of acts of violence. In 1999, he was arrested for beating one other government with a chair, a cellphone, and a champagne bottle; he needed to pay a high quality and take an anger administration class, in response to the New Yorker. The identical 12 months, he was concerned in a capturing at a membership in Manhattan, the place he was attending a celebration along with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez; witnesses stated they noticed him with a gun, however he was in the end acquitted after a public, much-watched trial.
He has additionally been accused of threats and violence towards ladies. In a 2019 interview, for instance, his ex-girlfriend Gina Huynh stated he had thrown a shoe at her and dragged her by the hair. However these experiences haven’t acquired mainstream public consideration — till now.
Singer Cassie filed swimsuit towards Diddy in November
In November, Cassie, whose actual title is Casandra Ventura, sued Combs, alleging sexual assault and intercourse trafficking. Within the swimsuit, first reported by the New York Instances, Ventura stated she had skilled years of abuse from Combs, beginning quickly after she met him in 2005, when she was 19. She stated that he beat her repeatedly, at one level kicking her within the face, and that later, in 2018, he raped her. She additionally stated he trafficked her by coercing her to have intercourse with intercourse staff in several cities whereas he filmed and masturbated. She tried to delete the pictures and movies afterward, however Combs retained entry, she stated within the swimsuit, at one level making her watch a video she thought she had deleted.
Ventura’s swimsuit additionally stated that Combs and his associates used his energy and wealth to intimidate her into silence and compliance, along with his workers threatening to break her music profession if she spoke out towards him. In a single significantly surprising element, Ventura stated Combs threatened to explode the rapper Child Cudi’s automotive as a result of Cudi and Ventura have been courting; the automotive later exploded. “That is all true,” a spokesperson for Child Cudi advised the Instances of the automotive exploding.
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By means of his lawyer, Ben Brafman, Combs accused Ventura of blackmail. “For the previous six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, beneath the specter of writing a dangerous e book about their relationship,” Brafman stated within the assertion, which additionally accused Ventura of mendacity in her lawsuit to hunt a “payday.” Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, stated Combs had really provided Ventura cash for her silence, which she had declined.
Ventura’s swimsuit was settled for an undisclosed quantity inside a single day. The singer said that she had “determined to resolve this matter amicably on phrases that I’ve some stage of management.”
However Ventura’s determination to return ahead publicly opened the floodgates, and extra experiences of assault and abuse started pouring out.
Different folks say Diddy harmed them
Three different ladies quickly filed swimsuit towards Combs. Within the second swimsuit, Joi Dickerson-Neal says he drugged and raped her in 1991. Within the third, Liza Gardner says that in 1990, he coerced her into intercourse and choked her, inflicting her to lose consciousness. Jonathan Davis, a lawyer for Combs, stated in a assertion to the Instances that Combs denied these allegations as properly: “Due to Mr. Combs’s fame and success, he’s a simple goal for accusers who try and smear him.”
In the fourth swimsuit, the lady recognized as Jane Doe says she was a junior in highschool when she met then-Unhealthy Boy president Harve Pierre and one other Combs affiliate in Detroit. They satisfied her to fly on their jet to New York, the swimsuit says, the place they and the rapper gave her medicine and alcohol after which violently raped her.
“Ms. Doe has lived together with her reminiscences of this fateful night time for 20 years, throughout which period she has suffered excessive emotional misery that has impacted practically each facet of her life and private relationships,” the swimsuit says. “Given the courageous ladies who’ve come ahead towards Ms. Combs and Mr. Pierre in latest weeks, Ms. Doe is doing the identical.”
In response to that swimsuit, Combs launched a press release denying all experiences of violence, calling them “sickening allegations” made “by people in search of a fast payday.” Pierre has additionally denied the allegations, saying in a press release to TMZ, “I’ve by no means participated in, witnessed, nor heard of something like this, ever.”
The ladies got here ahead final 12 months as a result of two New York legal guidelines — one among which paved the way in which for E. Jean Carroll’s profitable lawsuit towards Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation — opened restricted home windows of time during which folks can file civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, even when the statute of limitations has handed. A type of home windows closed in late November, explaining the flurry of complaints.
Whereas the fits largely describe conduct the plaintiffs say occurred years in the past, a February submitting by Rodney Jones Jr., referred to as Lil Rod, says that Combs subjected him to undesirable touching and tried to “groom” him once they labored collectively on The Love Album: Off the Grid in 2022 and 2023. Jones says that at a celebration in 2023, he was pressured to drink tequila blended with medicine, then awoke “bare with a intercourse employee sleeping subsequent to him.” He says that Combs provided cash and threatened violence to get him to solicit intercourse staff and carry out intercourse acts with them.
Combs has denied Jones’s allegations. In a press release, Shawn Holley, a lawyer for Combs, stated, “Now we have overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” and known as Jones “nothing greater than a liar who filed a $30 million lawsuit shamelessly in search of an undeserved payday.”
Within the wake of those civil lawsuits, raids in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore in March have pointed to an obvious legal investigation. In keeping with the Instances, the raids on houses related to the rapper have been a part of an inquiry by federal prosecutors within the Southern District of New York and brokers with the Division of Homeland Safety. Few particulars have been accessible within the fast aftermath, and legal professionals for Combs haven’t but responded to requests for remark from Vox or the Instances. Nevertheless, the raids counsel a possible new stage within the Combs case, with regulation enforcement sources additionally telling the Los Angeles Instances they have been linked to intercourse trafficking allegations.
Combs was rumored to have left the nation on Monday after his personal aircraft traveled to Antigua, however he was later noticed within the Miami-Opa Locka airport. No matter his whereabouts, the investigations in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore have as soon as once more positioned the rapper beneath intense public scrutiny.
Is that this the music business’s Me Too second?
The rising variety of experiences, and their chilling particulars, have led firms and influential folks in media and enterprise to distance themselves from the rapper. Diageo, the beverage model with which Combs partnered on vodka and tequila, eliminated his picture from its web site. Capital Preparatory Faculties, a New York constitution college community Combs helped broaden, posted a press release on the varsity’s web site saying it was reducing ties with him (although the assertion was later eliminated). Combs additionally stepped apart as chair of Revolt, a TV community he helped begin in 2013.
The instances towards Combs are coming to gentle towards a backdrop of different accusations towards main figures in music. In November, a girl sued Neil Portnow, former head of the Grammy Awards, saying he had drugged and raped her in 2018. The identical month, a former worker sued music government L.A. “Babyface” Reid, saying he sexually assaulted and harassed her, resulting in irrevocable injury to her profession within the music business.
Additionally they happen at a time when Ye, a music and vogue mogul whose profession has parallels with Diddy’s, has misplaced lots of his model partnerships after public antisemitic and racist statements in addition to what many say was a years-long sample of verbal abuse and harassment, which can have been saved quiet partially as a result of partnering with him was so profitable for manufacturers.
Whereas the Me Too motion pressured reckonings round sexual assault and harassment in industries from movie to different media to eating places in 2017 and 2018, many within the music enterprise felt that its largest gamers have been comparatively unscathed. R. Kelly, for instance, confronted few penalties till Hampton’s extensively watched 2019 docuseries drew renewed consideration to the accusations — regardless of repeated allegations that he’d had sexual contact with underage women, a number of lawsuits, and even a 2008 legal trial over little one sexual abuse materials. Many argued that the explanation Kelly was given a cross for therefore lengthy was that the ladies coming ahead to report abuse by him have been Black. In 2021, he was convicted of intercourse trafficking and sentenced to 30 years in jail; a second 20-year sentence was added the next 12 months, with all however one 12 months to be served concurrently with the primary sentence.
Three ladies said publicly in 2017 that one other influential music business determine, Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons, had raped them. Like Kelly, he was the topic of a documentary specializing in the allegations, although he has not confronted prices.
Now, Ventura and the opposite folks submitting swimsuit are reporting violent rape, intimidation, and abuse by one of many largest names in music, somebody who symbolized the motion of hip-hop into each mainstream and high-end tradition. Combs in his heyday was an icon of energy and affect in music, vogue, and enterprise, and the lawsuits symbolize a brand new willingness to name that energy to account.
Additionally they function a reminder that the Me Too motion has made enduring modifications, together with influencing regulation and coverage and making a highway map for survivors of assault to return ahead and share their tales.
Replace, Could 20, 10:50 am ET: This story, initially revealed on December 20, 2023, has been up to date to mirror latest developments, together with Sean “Diddy” Combs’s apology following the publication of a video that exhibits him kicking and dragging singer Cassie Ventura.
