Particularly within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, Diddy was a determine of huge energy, not simply in hip-hop however within the enterprise and leisure worlds writ massive. In latest months, nevertheless, a number of individuals have sued him, saying he used that affect and wealth to sexually victimize and, in some circumstances, site visitors them, whereas avoiding penalties for many years.
On Monday, hypothesis across the accusations escalated as properties in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore linked to Diddy had been raided by federal authorities, who revealed that the raids had been linked to an ongoing investigation into intercourse trafficking allegations.
These allegations first got here to gentle in a sequence of latest lawsuits, a number of of which embrace brutal and disturbing particulars. Plaintiffs state that Diddy — whose start identify is Sean Combs and who has additionally publicly passed by Puff Daddy, Puffy, and Love — raped them and, in some circumstances, trafficked them by coercing them to interact in intercourse with different males. Collectively, the circumstances have redirected public consideration towards longstanding allegations of violence in opposition to Combs, main some manufacturers to chop ties with him and Hulu to scrap his upcoming actuality present.
The first go well with, filed in November 2023 by the singer Cassie, who dated Combs and was signed to his label, alleged that he urged her to have intercourse with male intercourse employees whereas he filmed, and that he later raped her. In one other criticism, a lady recognized solely as Jane Doe says that in 2003, when she was 17, Combs had her flown on a non-public jet to New York, the place he and two different males gave her medicine and alcohol and raped her. And in a go well with filed in February, music producer Rodney Jones Jr., says that Combs grabbed his genitals with out consent and compelled him to “solicit intercourse employees and carry out intercourse acts to the pleasure of Mr. Combs.”
Combs has denied the allegations, saying in a December assertion, “I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll combat for my identify, my household and for the reality.” After the February go well with, a lawyer for Combs known as Jones “nothing greater than a liar who filed a $30 million lawsuit shamelessly in search of an undeserved payday.”
The circumstances have captured the general public’s consideration partly as a result of Combs was such an influential govt and gatekeeper in music and trend, 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 in opposition to 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 vital eyes — in some circumstances because of the landmark New York legal guidelines which have allowed individuals 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 asserting that he’ll produce a sequence about Combs within the fashion of the bombshell docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, with the proceeds going to assault survivors.
Dream Hampton, producer of Surviving R. Kelly, informed the Occasions late final 12 months that an accounting was arriving for the Unhealthy Boy founder. “Puff is finished,” she stated.
The fits in opposition to Combs additionally present that regardless of latest backlash, the Me Too motion and the authorized and cultural adjustments that got here with it have had an everlasting affect. Even when allegations of sexual assault and harassment don’t make each day headlines the way in which they did in 2017, the reckoning is ongoing — and no business is prone to stay immune perpetually.
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 trend. He began Unhealthy Boy Data 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 industrial increase in hip-hop that lasted till the tip of the nineties,” in line with Michael Specter of the New Yorker.
Combs was additionally one of many first to mix the worlds of hip-hop, enterprise, and luxurious. His trend label, Sean John, based in 1998, turned recognized 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 celeb: Inside a span of weeks final fall, he held a joint album launch and celebration attended by stars resembling 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, nevertheless, he was accused of a number of acts of violence. In 1999, he was arrested for beating one other govt with a chair, a cellphone, and a champagne bottle; he needed to pay a effective and take an anger administration class, in line with 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 together 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 in opposition to 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 reviews haven’t acquired mainstream public consideration — till now.
Singer Cassie filed go well with in opposition to Diddy in November
In November, Cassie, whose actual identify is Casandra Ventura, sued Combs, alleging sexual assault and intercourse trafficking. Within the go well with, first reported by the New York Occasions, 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 employees in numerous cities whereas he filmed and masturbated. She tried to delete the pictures and movies afterward, however Combs retained entry, she stated within the go well with, at one level making her watch a video she thought she had deleted.
Ventura’s go well with additionally stated that Combs and his associates used his energy and wealth to intimidate her into silence and compliance, together with his staff threatening to wreck her music profession if she spoke out in opposition to him. In a single notably stunning element, Ventura stated Combs threatened to explode the rapper Child Cudi’s automobile as a result of Cudi and Ventura had been relationship; the automobile later exploded. “That is all true,” a spokesperson for Child Cudi informed the Occasions of the automobile exploding.
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By way 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, below the specter of writing a dangerous ebook about their relationship,” Brafman stated in a press release. “Regardless of withdrawing her preliminary risk, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to submitting a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s fame and looking for a payday.” Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, stated Combs had truly provided Ventura cash for her silence, which she had declined.
Ventura’s go well with was settled for an undisclosed quantity inside a single day. The singer acknowledged 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 reviews of assault and abuse started pouring out.
Different individuals say Diddy harmed them
Three different ladies quickly filed go well with in opposition to Combs. Within the second go well with, 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 Occasions that Combs denied these allegations as nicely: “Due to Mr. Combs’s fame and success, he’s a straightforward goal for accusers who try and smear him.”
In the fourth go well with, 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 go well with 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 evening for 20 years, throughout which period she has suffered excessive emotional misery that has impacted almost each facet of her life and private relationships,” the go well with says. “Given the courageous ladies who’ve come ahead in opposition to Ms. Combs and Mr. Pierre in latest weeks, Ms. Doe is doing the identical.”
In response to that go well with, Combs launched a press release denying all reviews 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 in all which paved the way in which for E. Jean Carroll’s profitable lawsuit in opposition to Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation — opened restricted home windows of time through which individuals can file civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, even when the statute of limitations has handed. A kind of home windows closed in late November, explaining the flurry of complaints.
Whereas the fits principally describe conduct the plaintiffs say occurred years in the past, the February submitting by Rodney Jones Jr., often called Lil Rod, says that Combs subjected him to undesirable touching and tried to “groom” him after 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 employees and carry out intercourse acts with them.
Combs has denied Jones’s allegations. In a press release, Shawn Holley, a lawyer for Combs, stated, “We’ve overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies.”
Within the wake of those civil lawsuits, raids in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore in March have pointed to an obvious prison investigation. In keeping with the Occasions, the raids on properties related to the rapper had 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 had been accessible within the speedy aftermath, and attorneys for Combs haven’t but responded to requests for remark from Vox or the Occasions. Nonetheless, the raids counsel a possible new stage within the Combs case, with regulation enforcement sources additionally telling the Los Angeles Occasions they had been linked to intercourse trafficking allegations.
Combs was rumored to have left the nation on Monday after his non-public 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 below intense public scrutiny.
Is that this the music business’s Me Too second?
The rising variety of reviews, and their chilling particulars, have led firms and influential individuals 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 faculty community Combs helped increase, posted a press release on the college’s web site saying it was chopping 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 circumstances in opposition to Combs are coming to gentle in opposition to a backdrop of different accusations in opposition to main figures in music. In November, a lady 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 govt 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 trend 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 partly 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 had 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 ladies, a number of lawsuits, and even a 2008 prison trial over little one sexual abuse materials. Many argued that the explanation Kelly was given a go for thus lengthy was that the ladies coming ahead to report abuse by him had 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 acknowledged 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 expenses.
Now, Ventura and the opposite individuals submitting go well with 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, trend, and enterprise, and the lawsuits characterize a brand new willingness to name that energy to account.
Additionally they function a reminder that the Me Too motion has made enduring adjustments, together with influencing regulation and coverage and making a street map for survivors of assault to return ahead and share their tales.
Replace, March 26, 2:30 pm: This story, initially revealed on December 20, 2023, has been up to date to replicate latest developments, together with the federal raid of two properties related to Sean “Diddy” Combs.
