New York:
Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs apologized Sunday after hotel surveillance video emerged that showed him physically assaulting his then-girlfriend Casandra Ventura in 2016.
Combs is the target of several civil lawsuits that characterize him as a violent sexual predator who used alcohol and drugs to subdue his victims, and his homes were raided this year by federal agents.
Disturbing footage published Friday shows Combs attacking Ventura — a singer and model also known simply as Cassie — corroborating allegations she made in a now-settled lawsuit late last year.
“My behavior in that video is inexcusable,” Combs said in a video posted to Instagram, adding that he was “disgusted” and “sought professional help” after the incident, including therapy and rehabilitation.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m committed to being a better man every day.”
The footage, published by CNN, shows the rap mogul hitting, dragging and kicking Ventura, who in her recent lawsuit said Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion through physical force and drugs, as well as a 2018 rape.
In the video, Ventura leaves a hotel room and then Combs, appearing to be wearing only a towel, chases her before throwing her to the hallway floor and attacking her.
“The distressing video only further confirmed Mr. Combs’ disturbing and predatory behavior,” read a statement from his attorney Douglas Wigdor.
Ventura sued Combs in federal court last fall in a bombshell lawsuit that was settled out of court but followed by a series of equally lurid sexual assault allegations against the hip-hop star.
Ventura met Combs when she was 19 and he was 37, after which he signed her to his record label and they began a romantic relationship.
Combs has vehemently denied all allegations against him.
“Enough is enough,” he said in a December 2023 statement, also on his Instagram page, saying the accusers were “looking for a quick payday.”
“Over the past few weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy.”
On Sunday, after the video apology surfaced, a second attorney for Ventura responded, saying Combs’ message “rings hollow.”
“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,” attorney Meredith Firetog said, according to celebrity website TMZ.
In March, armed agents raided Combs’ sprawling luxury properties in Miami and Los Angeles, a heavily publicized operation in the coastal region that suggested an investigation into the rapper was underway.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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