New York:
Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs apologized on Sunday after lodge surveillance video surfaced exhibiting him bodily assaulting his then-girlfriend Casandra Ventura in 2016.
Combs is the goal of a number of civil lawsuits that characterize him as a violent sexual predator who used alcohol and medicines to subdue his victims, and his properties had been raided this 12 months by federal brokers.
Disturbing footage revealed Friday reveals Combs attacking Ventura — a singer and mannequin additionally identified merely as Cassie — corroborating allegations she made in a now-settled lawsuit late final 12 months.
“My habits on that video is inexcusable,” Combs stated in a video posted on Instagram, including he was “disgusted” and “sought out skilled assist” after the incident together with remedy and rehab.
“I am so sorry,” he stated. “I am dedicated to be a greater man every day.”
The footage, which was revealed by CNN, reveals the rap mogul hitting, dragging and kicking Ventura, who in her latest lawsuit stated Combs subjected her to greater than a decade of coercion by bodily power and medicines, plus a 2018 rape.
Within the video, Ventura leaves a lodge room after which Combs, showing to put on solely a towel, chases her earlier than throwing her to the hallway flooring and assaulting her.
“The gut-wrenching video has solely additional confirmed the disturbing and predatory habits of Mr. Combs,” learn an announcement from her lawyer Douglas Wigdor.
Ventura sued Combs in federal court docket final fall in a bombshell swimsuit that was settled out of court docket however succeeded by a string of equally lurid sexual assault claims in opposition to the hip-hop star.
Ventura met Combs when she was 19 and he was 37, after which he signed her to his label they usually started a romantic relationship.
Combs has beforehand vehemently denied all accusations in opposition to him.
“Sufficient is sufficient,” he stated in a December 2023 assertion, additionally on his Instagram web page, saying accusers had been “on the lookout for a fast payday.”
“For the final couple of weeks, I’ve sat silently and watched individuals attempt to assassinate my character, destroy my repute and my legacy.”
On Sunday after the apology video emerged, a second Ventura lawyer responded, saying the Combs message “rings hole.”
“That he was solely compelled to ‘apologize’ as soon as his repeated denials had been confirmed false reveals his pathetic desperation, and nobody shall be swayed by his disingenuous phrases,” lawyer Meredith Firetog stated, in response to celeb web site TMZ.
In March armed brokers entered Combs’s sprawling luxurious properties in Miami and Los Angeles, a closely publicized bicoastal operation that prompt an investigation into the rapper is underway.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)