Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs posts shocking statement after vile video of him beating Cassie Ventura surfaces
The rapper has responded to backlash over a vile video that recently surfaced of him savagely beating his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs apologised Sunday for a recently surfaced 2016 video of him brutally beating his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura saying his behaviour was “inexcusable.”
For eight years — until the video was released — Combs vehemently denied Ventura’s allegations of abuse, The NY Post reports.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said in a video on Instagram. “I was f — ed up. I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behaviour on that video is inexcusable.”
The rapper added: “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video, I’m disgusted.”
“I was disgusted then when I did it and I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help, started going to therapy and rehab, had to ask god for his mercy and grace,” he said.
The horrifying caught-on-video attack, published Friday by CNN and dated March 5, 2016, shows the rapper and producer, wearing only a bathtowel, running after Ventura at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles.
Combs can be seen grabbing her by the back of the neck and throwing her to the floor. He later can be seen kicking her twice as she lies still on the carpet.
The 54-year-old rapper then dragged Ventura by her sweatshirt before walking away.
Footage then shows Ventura slowly starting to stand up after the attack before Combs, still in a towel, returns and shoves her.
A few seconds later, Combs sits in a chair, grabs an object from a table and throws it at Ventura, the footage shows.
He walks away, only to turn toward Ventura yet again — just in time for someone to exit the elevator.
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behaviour of Mr. Combs,” Douglas H. Wigdor, a lawyer for Ventura, said in response to the video — which appeared to match the allegations in the latter’s now-settled lawsuit against Combs.
“Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light,” Wigdor added.
Ventura — who was in an off-and-on relationship with Combs between 2007 and 2018 — sued the Bad Boy Records founder in November 2023, alleging that he subjected her to years of violence and sexual abuse.
In the filing, Ventura alleged that Combs paid the InterContinental $50,000 for the security footage from a physical altercation in March 2016, according to CNN.
During that attack, Ventura’s complaint claimed, Combs became “extremely intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her a black eye.”
When Combs later fell asleep, Ventura tried to leave but he woke up and allegedly “followed her into the hallway of the hotel while yelling at her.”
“He grabbed at her, and then took glass vases in the hallway and threw them at her, causing glass to crash around them as she ran to the elevator to escape,” the lawsuit read.
Ventura was finally able to get away — but feared Combs’ wrath, the complaint continued.
“Upon realising that her running away would cause Mr. Combs to be even angrier with her, and completely stuck in his vicious cycle of abuse, Ms. Ventura returned to the hotel with the intention of apologising for running away from her abuser,” it stated.
“When she returned, hotel security staff urged her to get back into a cab and go to her apartment, suggesting that they had seen the security footage showing Mr. Combs beating Ms. Ventura and throwing glass at her in the hotel hallway.”
The suit also claimed that Combs used his wealth and influence to control Ventura, whom he met when she was 19 and he was 37.
Ventura was also signed with Combs’ label and they were in business together through 2019.
The suit was resolved the day after filing with an undisclosed settlement. At the time, Combs’ lawyer insisted that his client was innocent of “these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
Since November, however, Combs has been hit with five other lawsuits accusing him of rape, sexual misconduct and other crimes. In April, authorities raided his California and Florida mansions as part of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security team that deals with human trafficking.
This article originally appeared in The NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
Originally published as Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs posts shocking statement after vile video of him beating Cassie Ventura surfaces