LOS ANGELES – Sean “Diddy” Combs admitted that he hit his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 after CNN released video of the attack, saying in a video apology that he was “truly sorry” and that his actions were “truly sorry.” inexcusable.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted when I did this. I’m disgusted right now,” the music mogul said in a video posted Sunday on Instagram and Facebook.
Security video broadcast Friday shows Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching and kicking Cassie, a R&Singer B who was his protégé and longtime girlfriend at the time. The footage also shows Combs pushing and dragging Cassie and throwing a vase toward her.
Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, sued Combs in November for what she said were years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The lawsuit was settled the next day, but it spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits 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 denied the allegations in the lawsuits, but neither he nor his representatives responded to the newly emerged video as of Sunday.
“It’s so hard to reflect on the darkest moments in your life, but sometimes you have to,” Diddy says in the video. He adds: “I went and sought professional help. I started going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m very sorry. But I’m committed to being a better man every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I am deeply sorry.”
Combs is somber and wearing a T-shirt in the selfie-style apology video, and appears to be on a patio. It is the most direct response and the first apology from the hip-hop mogul after six months of accusations that threatened his reputation and career.
Meredith Firetog, who represents Ventura and other women who sued Combs, said the apology was “more about himself than about the many people he hurt.
“When Cassie and several other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payment,” the lawyer said in a statement. “The fact that he was only forced to ‘apologize’ after his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his false words.”
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura did.
In December, after Ventura and at least three other women filed lawsuits against him, Combs posted a statement on Instagram largely denying the truth of all of them.
“Let me be absolutely clear. I did not do any of the horrible things alleged,” the post read.
The security camera video, dated March 5, 2016, closely resembles the description of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles described in Ventura’s lawsuit.
The suit alleges that Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for security video immediately after the incident. Neither he nor his representatives have addressed that specific allegation. CNN did not say how it obtained the images.
The lawsuit said Ventura was trying to get away from a sleeping Combs, who had already punched her in the face before the video began.
Combs is not at risk of criminal charges for the beating. The statute of limitations on the assault and battery charges he was likely to face expired years ago.
The same applies to many of the allegations in the lawsuits, but federal investigators following Combs are likely looking for potential crimes they can prosecute under the law.
Ventura was signed to Diddy’s record label in 2005. The two had an on-and-off romantic relationship for over a decade, beginning in 2007.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
