Front Burner - Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs allegations explained

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Rap mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ long-time ex-girlfriend Cassie has filed a lawsuit against him, alleging years of sexual assault and physical abuse. She’s not alone. Three other women have filed similar suits. Andre Gee, staff writer at Rolling Stone, joins us to go through the details of the cases and what it could mean for the music industry. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Damon Fairless. Before we get into today's episode, I just want to give you a heads up. We're going to be mentioning instances of sexual and physical violence. Please listen with care. Whether you call him Puff Daddy, Diddy, Love, or just Sean Combs, he's a huge name in music and pop culture. He's been around for over 30 years, and he's still relevant. Diddy just released an album

featuring basically the who's who of hip-hop and R&B, and his business ventures over the years have run the gamut from fashion to media and even e-commerce. But over the last month, four women have come forward with lawsuits alleging several incidents of sexual assault and domestic violence spanning three decades. The first to come forward was Diddy's longtime ex-partner and R&B star, Cassie. Today, we're joined by Andre G. He's a staff writer at Rolling Stone, and he's going to talk about these current accusations and how significant it might be that someone of Diddy's stature in the music industry is facing them publicly. Hey, Andre, thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. And just to make it clear, because this is a guy with a lot of names, we're going to probably toggle back and forth between Sean Combs and Diddy as well throughout this conversation, just so people listening have that before we launch into this. Okay. Yeah, it makes sense. Okay, so Andre, let's start with the first suit that seemed to kind of kick things in motion here. So this is the one filed by Cassandra Ventura, known to most people as Cassie. She and Sean Combs were a couple on and off for nearly a decade.

Now, according to her suit, what are some of the things she says Diddy did? Yeah. So the suit alleges that, you know, during the course of their relationship and even afterwards, he was basically physically abusive he uh was he sexually assaulted her he uh allegedly raped her um he would force her to have sex with male escorts while he recorded her and she would be you know drugged or you know otherwise intoxicated during these these instances. Her lawsuit just overall speaks to an environment or circumstance where he was just physically, emotionally, sexually abusive to her. And also he, I guess, kind of hurt her career prospects in the regard of like assaulting potential collaborators or people who were trying to work with her, as well as allegedly bombing Kid Cudi's car because he got wind that they were allegedly seeing each other.

So, yeah, the loss was pretty disturbing. So one of the things that really stood out to me was really just how nasty some of this violence against her was. I mean, just awful attacks. And then, as you mentioned, this allegation that Diddy blew up Kid Cudi's car. I mean, I was surprised that wasn't bigger news. Yeah, I had heard. Well, I'm surprised I had never heard of it occurring before the actual lawsuit. I had never heard of it occurring before the actual lawsuit.

I mean, Kid Cudi, at the time this allegedly happened, he was like a pretty major artist already. And it just, I don't know, even speaks to, you know, maybe Diddy's influence and power that something like that could occur and it didn't even make the news cycle. One of the things that Cassie said when she came out talking about this, she said in a statement that she felt an urgency to tell her story because there was a law called the New York Adult Survivors Act, and that's set to expire. So can you tell me a bit about that? Yeah, so this was an act that was enacted by New York Governor Hockley last year, and it gave survivors of sexual assault a one-year window to

file claims that were otherwise past the statute of limitations. It is a victory for justice and it is long overdue. Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new bill that allows victims of sex abuse to sue regardless of how long ago the alleged crime happened. For this one-year period, lawsuits will not be barred by the statute of limitations. The deadline was November 23rd, if I recall correctly. So that gave her and the other filers, like you said, a sense of urgency to make sure that their lawsuits and stories were heard before that deadline.

Cassie started dating Diddy about a year after the release of her debut album. That was back in 2006. Yes. And on that album, there was the hit Me and You, which is probably what, you know, if you're familiar with it, that's probably why you know her. Before that, she had signed a 10 album record deal with his label, Bad Boy. But then she didn't go on to release any more albums. So can you tell me what happened to her career? Yeah, I mean, essentially it sputtered out.

I mean, like you said, she released Me and You, which was a pretty popular single. I mean, to this day, you still might hear it in the right mix or right setting. It, you know, displayed potential to have somewhat of a career. But after that, she didn't release much music and like you said she was uh essentially like ensnared in this 10 album deal which sounds insane so again this is just speculative but that hints to an environment where with Diddy's profile and his connections and network maybe there was a chance that she was stigmatized in the industry to the point where okay if you work with cassie or try to you know collaborate with her you have to deal with the

wrath of diddy in some in some regard so between having her in this contract where he controlled her musical output and like being such a dominating figure in her life it effectively yeah really it really hindered her career from being able to be what it could have been. And she was really young too. She was like 19 or 20, right? When she put out that debut album? Yeah.

Yeah. Like 18 or 19, like very young. Yeah. Okay. So since Cassie filed her lawsuit, three other suits from three other women have come forward. Can you tell me what's in these other suits? What are these women accusing Sean Combs of? Yeah, so I mean,

all three of the other suits are alleging sexual assault, but they also have parallels to some of the claims that Cassie made in terms of one of the lawsuits, there was a woman who alleged that they took her to dinner and then to the studio. And when she was on her way into the studio, she felt quote unquote in a physical state where she could not independently stand or walk, um, which implies being,

you know, possibly intoxicated. And so there was another suit, the fourth suit that was filed from a woman who was a girl at the time, a 17 year old. And she alleged that she was a girl at the time, a 17-year-old, and she alleged that she was plied with, quote-unquote, a copious amount of drugs and alcohol and flown out from Michigan to New York City to meet Diddy and whatever else. Well, yeah, it alleges that she

was assaulted. And there was a second lawsuit that was filed where a woman alleged that Diddy and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her and a friend in the early 90s. So again, there are parallels when you speak to, you know, obviously the sexual assault, and then the drugging of the women, and then the filming of them in the gang rape aspect. So how Sean Combs responded to the string of accusations? Well, when the Cassie lawsuit was settled, he denied all the claims. And after the fourth suit last week, Diddy released a statement on his Instagram and several outlets saying that he did not do any of the things that were being alleged and quote unquote, I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.

So he's unequivocally denying that any of these accusations are true. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you.

Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo. 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. Let's take a step back outside these allegations and take a look at Sean Combs himself. So he's obviously one of hip-hop's biggest moguls. He's got a huge footprint in the music industry, but he's also got a really startling number of successful business ventures too. So can you tell me a bit more about his stature in the music industry and beyond that? Yeah, like you said, he's pretty much a seminal

cultural figure when you talk about music within the past 20, 30 years, even just the music industry in general. He was a key figure in the rise of a lot of 90s music acts in terms of Mary J. Blige, No Toys B.I.G. It was all a dream. I used to read Word Up magazine. And through that cultural relevance, he leveraged that into the space as a music mogul and just a general entrepreneur when it comes to, you know, Sean John Clothing. Just being a label head in general with Bad Boy Records, having partnerships with Sirak Vaka and Deleon Tequila. and having partnerships with Ciroc Vaca and Deleon Tequila.

And then along with the liquor brands, you also have Revolt, which is a media outlet, a TV channel, as well as a website, which has become a pretty prominent outlet within the rap media space or just cultural media space in general. So he has a wide range of endeavors that have accrued him a lot of money. He's hinted at being a billionaire. He's often at the top of the Forbes list, the net worth list. And, you know, that kind of power and influence buys you a lot of protection, unfortunately. One of the things that seems kind of central to how he projects himself, at least,

is this image of him as being, you know, someone who can make and break careers in the industry. I mean that seems to be clear when thinking back to his show Making the Band. Their shows were lackluster they were very inexperienced. So I'm gonna show them some tricks that I know from me being a pretty okay, great, incredible superstar. Just from my perspective. You know, that was kind of the central tenet of that. How central would you say power was to his personal brand? Yeah, I mean, I would say it's a core aspect of who he is.

Like you said, on Making the Band, he just had this domineering image to where these people on the show were like grown adults, but they kind of had this fear or desire for his approval as if he was like a paternal figure. Where is my cheesecake? If my cheesecake is in the least bit soft or brittle or not on point, yo, we'll go back. You know what junior is that? Yo, fam, Puffy

just told us to go to the store in Brooklyn and bring him back a cheesecake and walk. Because he basically held the key to their future conceivably as the gateway to music fame and stardom etc and then you know you you talk about people on on making the band being afraid of him there was there was also outside of

music or included in music but in general he had this reputation for having a temper like a serious temper so what kind of allegations have surrounded him in the past yeah i mean even beyond the you know domestic violence but man the man woman allegations there are several instances or allegations of him like losing his temper and assaulting or having men assaulted whether that's steve stout who was a music executive who he was mad about, or allegedly mad about the Hate Me Now video and assaulted him. There's also the instance of him getting into it with the UCLA football coach, Sal Alosi, I believe, who was coaching his son, and I guess allegedly he may not have liked the way the coach was treating his son, and a fight somehow occurred.

Puff was arrested after allegedly swinging a kettlebell at a low seat but as for the details i can't speak about anything right was there a kettlebell involved i went there to communicate so yeah there's a history of him losing his temper and fighting In your piece for Rolling Stone, you wrote about how some of Diddy's former associates are coming forward in light of these suits from these women and sharing their stories about Combs. And they're corroborating the kind of things that Sean Combs has been has been accused of so i guess i'm curious who are these guys these associates of his and and what are they saying yeah these are several men who were in the bad boy orbit in the 90s and 2000s um mark curry who was a former bad boy artist mark curry went on a youtube channel recently and alleged that he was with Diddy when they were in the club drugging women.

They would have a set of bottles. And on this bottle, they'd be regular Moab bottles. On them bottles right there, they'd been had something to make the girls be real slippery and all of this kind of stuff. So when you get up, they'd be like, don't touch them bottles right there and only drink them bottles right there. Then all of the girls is in the club after a while. They all running, opening up their mouth like little birds. He's running around just popping pills in their mouth.

Pop, pill, pill, pill, pill. Curry said that, yeah, he, at the time, he didn't see anything wrong with it. He thought it was, quote unquote, the hip hop culture. Then you also have Roger Bonds, who's another former security guard of diddy he after cassie's lawsuit came out he went on instagram and essentially said yeah um a lot of this is true um he corroborated cassie's account that there were instances where he had he bonds had to separate the two and get combs like off of Cassie when he was assaulting her.

And yeah, Bonds essentially said, yeah, that happened multiple times, and it didn't just happen with Cassie. Cassie spoke on it. She said, yeah, I jumped on it. I jumped in between it. That wasn't the only time. It was other times, and it was other people. Yeah, these are some of the men who were in the bad boy orbit, whether they were artists or security guards who were privy, who were exposed to the violence, who may have been involved in the misconduct themselves. And they're now coming forward with their stories, even if it condemns them as well. And I should note, as of Wednesday, Diddy hadn't responded directly to these accusations from his former associates. But in the statement we mentioned earlier, he says, and I'll quote here, for the last couple of weeks, I've sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character,

destroy my reputation and my legacy. And he goes on to say he didn't do any of the awful things being alleged. But now getting back to some of the guys who were around him and what they're saying, it seems as though there was this culture of silence and complicity, something that seemed to come up in Cassie's suit as well. I'm listening to these guys' stories and I'm like, why do you have more than one story? Like, why did you not leave? Why did you not call him out? Why did you stick around as of the first time? It just, you know, that's a question for them essentially. But again, like you said, it speaks to a culture of complicity of looking the other around as of the first time it just you know that's a that's a question for them essentially but again like you said it speaks to a culture of complicity of looking the other way whether that's

because it's financially beneficial or culturally or whether you're scared of his industrial or cultural power but regardless there are survivors who you know these things happen happened to that there were people there who potentially could have alleviated or mitigated what was happening and they didn't. What's the fallout of these allegations been for Sean Combs? Yeah, so to this point, the tangible fallout is he's had to step down as the chairman of Revolt, his media platform that I mentioned earlier. And apparently it's he's temporarily stepping down. We'll see if he ever takes that position again. temporarily stepping down. We'll see if he ever takes that position again. Then there were also Rolling Stone reporter last week that AT businesses have stepped away from his e-commerce platform

Empower Global. And several of those businesses essentially made it clear that the allegations, not just Cassie's allegations, but the other lawsuits made him someone that they didn't want to partner with um and then just culturally i guess the court of public opinion right he now has to deal with you know his legacy and reputation being marred similar in a manner similar to r kelly or uh i'm trying to think dr dre they're just these other entertainers who have legendary music, but now you feel like morally compromised and playing it or listening to it or enjoying it because of just the disgusting things they've been accused of. So now there's that to contend with for him as well. And what do you think, in terms of his legacies, what do you think about his musical

footprint or collaborations with him as a producer do you think do you think people are going to force him to go the way of r kelly or unfortunately we've seen men accused of sexual violence um accused of domestic violence they still are able to eat out a living um to some level you see like a chris brown like maybe he's not the major top tier pop star that he was on the trajectory to being but he's still been more successful than a lot of people over the past 10 13 years or whatever since those rihanna accusations and the other ones that have been made against him so again like diddy is an artist or yeah an artist entertainer etc who's been around for 30 years and he has a vast network a lot of connections a lot of cross-generational connections

whether it's artists of his generation who came up with him who are still somewhat relevant who might collaborate with him or it's younger artists or even just on the executive level or beyond the music, people who have relationship with him, who've made money with him, who've made history with him, who will probably look the other way and do what they can to help him, collaborate with him, do business with him. So that's my prediction, sadly. All right, Andre, thanks so much for coming on the show. Yeah, again, thank you for having me. I'm glad people are amplifying this conversation.

All right, that's all for today. I'm Damon Fairless. Thanks for listening to FrontBurner. I'll talk to you tomorrow.