Sean “Diddy” Combs has issued a public apology after a newly published surveillance video showed him physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend and fellow musician Cassie in 2016, the latest controversy involving the rapper who has faced a search of his home by federal agents and multiple civil lawsuits since November accusing him of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and rape – all of which he has denied. Combs appears to grab, drag and kick Casandra Ventura, known professionally as “Cassie,” in the 2016 surveillance video, matching some allegations made in a lawsuit filed by Ventura and settled by Combs last year, which claimed she was attempting to escape further physical abuse from the rapper at a hotel when he assaulted her.
Combs on Sunday posted to Instagram, calling his behavior in the video “disgusting” and saying he received professional help after the incident, including going to rehab and therapy. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said it is aware of the video, condemning it as “extremely disturbing” and “difficult to watch,” though it will not bring charges against Combs because the apparent 2016 assault took place “beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.” Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by federal Homeland Security Investigations agents in March as part of an investigation the agency did not elaborate on, though NBC News and the Associated Press reported the searches stem from a sex trafficking probe.
The rapper has faced a string of lawsuits, starting when he was sued on November 16 last year by Ventura, who alleged Combs raped her in 2018 and subjected her to a yearslong abusive relationship that included physical abuse. Ventura’s $30 million lawsuit against Combs was settled later that month for an undisclosed amount. Later in November, a woman named Joie Dickerson-Neal alleged in a lawsuit Combs drugged her, sexually assaulted her and secretly recorded the assault while she was a college student in 1991.
Separately in November, an anonymous plaintiff accused Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall of raping her and a friend in 1990 or 1991 after meeting at an MCA Records event in New York. Combs was hit with another sexual assault suit in December, accusing the rapper of drugging and participating in a gang rape of the unnamed accuser in 2003, when the accuser was 17 years old. The most recent lawsuit against Combs was filed last month by producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who sued the rapper in New York and alleged he was “subjected to unwanted advances by associates of Diddy at his direction” and was forced to engage in relations with sex workers he hired.
Combs, 54, has denied all of the allegations against him, with his attorneys characterizing some of the lawsuits and their accusations as money grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.” Combs has not been criminally charged. The allegations contained in lawsuits against Combs date as far back as the 1990s, when he founded his own record label, Bad Boy Records. The lawsuit from Ventura that matches some of the actions taken by Combs in the surveillance video also accuses the rapper of paying the hotel $50,000 for the footage. One of the rapper’s raided homes is located in Holmby Hills, an affluent neighborhood where Combs purchased a home for $40 million ten years ago.
