Sean “Diddy” Combs has been slammed by his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura’s legal team over his apology for beating the singer.
The rapper-turned-business mogul said on May 19 that he was “truly sorry” for the incident, two days after a video was released by CNN showing him launching a brutal attack on Ventura at a now-closed Los Angeles hotel. However, hours later her lawyers said it was a self-obsessed display.
Combs didn’t mention Ventura directly by name in his apology video, which was released on Instagram. He used it to say it was hard for him to talk about “dark” times before telling his followers he went into therapy and rehab and sought God’s help after he battered Ventura.
“Combs’ most recent statement is more about himself than the many people he has hurt,” Meredith Firetog, a partner at Wigdor LLP, the legal firm representing Cassie, told Page Six in a statement.
“When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday. 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,” she added, referring to the wave of other accusations of abuse Combs is currently facing.
Ventura had detailed the 2016 assault caught on tape in a bombshell 2023 lawsuit she lodged against Combs, which accused him of abuse.
The rapper settled out of court over the claims a day after it was filed, but his legal team later said the settlement was in “no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
Footage of him beating Ventura was captured on surveillance cameras at the InterContinental Hotel, showing him kicking her as she lay motionless on the ground before he hurled a glass vase at her after watching her pick up her belongings after the initial attack.
Ventura’s 2023 filing said about the incident that Combs was “extremely intoxicated” at the time and had punched her “in the face” leaving a “black eye.”
“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,” her filing stated.
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs. Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light,” Ventura’s attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor, last week said in a statement about the tape.
Combs said in his apology video on May 19 about the footage of him beating Ventura that he had hit “rock bottom” when it was captured, adding he was disgusted with himself over the incident then and now.
He was hit with a wave of other lawsuits in late 2023 and early 2024, including allegations of sex trafficking and sexual assault. The cases remain active, and he has denied all claims against him.
