Video appears to show hip-hop mogul beating up his girlfriend
Security video aired by CNN which appears to show Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016 is the latest in a months-long series of public allegations and revelations of physical and sexual violence from the hip-hop mogul.
Security camera footage appears to show Combs, clad in a white towel, punching and kicking the R&B singer who was his protege and long-time girlfriend at the time.
The footage also shows Combs shoving and dragging Cassie, and throwing a vase in her direction.
Dated March 5, 2016, it closely resembles the description of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles described in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie — whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura — that alleged years of sexual abuse and other violence from Combs.
The lawsuit alleges Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the security video.
CNN did not say how it obtained the video but noted it verified the location where it was filmed, by comparing the footage to publicly available images of the InterContinental Hotel.
Cassie’s lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed, but spurred intense scrutiny of Combs.
Several more lawsuits were filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
He has previously denied the allegations in the lawsuits, and his lawyers have said he denies any wrongdoing and will fight to prove his innocence.
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behaviour of Mr Combs,” said Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Cassie who has filed other lawsuits against Combs. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
According to the lawsuit, Combs earlier in the evening became “extremely intoxicated” and punched Ventura, giving her a black eye.
After he fell asleep she tried to leave, the suit says. This is apparently where the video begins. Ventura can be seen going to a bank of elevators with a packed bag.
Then Combs awoke and began screaming at her, following her down the hall, the suit said.
He violently grabs her and yanks her to the ground, kicks her, and throws vases in her direction in the video.
The lawsuit says she managed to get away, but later returned out of fear that she would face greater abuse if she didn’t.
As she returned, hotel staff urged her to go back to her apartment, the suit says. She would later flee and hide out with a friend in Florida.
The lawsuit alleges Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the security video.
It is unlikely Combs could be criminally charged. The statutes of limitations for assault or battery in California run from one to three years, depending on whether they are charged as misdemeanours or felonies.
The video’s release comes as Combs and his legal team had begun to push back against the allegations that had come in a steady stream since November.
They recently filed motions to dismiss parts of a lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted a woman in 1991, and to dismiss all of a lawsuit alleging he and two other men raped a 17-year-old girl in 2003. The court filings called both sets of allegations false.