Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs issued an “apology” video on social media after a another video made the rounds showing him beating and kicking his then girlfriend, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, in a hotel hallway in 2016.
Combs said he was “disgusted then when I did it” and remains “disgusted now” and has sought therapy and rehab to become “a better man.”
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“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” a sad-looking Combs says in the video. “ … I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
The incident seen in the video was apparently referenced in Ventura’s lawsuit against Combs, filed last year and settled “amicably” the day after it was filed, as CrimeOnline reported. According to the lawsuit, Combs paid $50,000 for the video of the March 2016 incident so it wouldn’t be released, but CNN obtained it this week and released it.
The video shows Combs chase Ventura down the hotel hallway, holding a towel around his waist with one hand. When he reaches her at a bank of elevators, he flings her to the floor and kicks her. Then he picks up her belongings and kicks Ventura again before dragging her down the hallway by her sweatshirt.
Ventura gets up from the floor and gathers her belongings, including her phone, before Combs returns and shoves her. Then he sits on a chair and throws something from a table at Ventura.
Combs denied allegations in Ventura’s lawsuit claiming he drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men as well as those made in five other lawsuits filed against him.
“Let me absolutely clear. I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” Combs said in a post, also on Instagram, in December after the lawsuits were filed.
Additionally, federal authorities have launched an investigations — which included raids on his homes in California and Florida — in connection with the lawsuits.
Meredith Firetog, an attorney who represents weoman who have sued Combs, said the “apology” was “more about himself than the many people he has hurt,” The Associated Press reported.
“When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday,” she said in a statement. “That he was only compelled to ‘apologize’ once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words.”
Admitting to the horrific acts seen in the hotel video won’t seen Combs to jail — it’s past the statute of limitations for assault charges.
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[Featured image: Sean “Diddy” Combs/Instagram]
