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Why the rape allegations against Diddy are coming to light now

New York’s survivors laws have helped spur a reckoning in music — one that some say is long overdue.

By Anna North  Dec 20, 2023, 6:00am EST

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Sean “Diddy” Combs, pictured at Howard University in October, was accused of trafficking and rape a month later by singer Cassie in a civil lawsuit that later inspired other women to come forward.

 Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs

Anna North is a senior correspondent for Vox, where she covers American family life, work, and education. Previously, she was an editor and writer at the New York Times. She is also the author of three novels, including the New York Times bestseller Outlawed.

Especially in the 1990s and 2000s, Diddy was a figure of enormous power, not just in hip-hop but in the business and entertainment worlds writ large. In the past two months, however, four women have sued him, saying he used that influence and wealth to sexually victimize them and avoid any consequences for decades.

Their lawsuits, several of which include brutal and disturbing details, state that Diddy, whose birth name is Sean Combs and who has also publicly gone by Puff Daddy, Puffy, and Love, raped them and, in some cases, trafficked them by coercing them to engage in sex with other men. Together, the cases have redirected public attention toward longstanding allegations of violence against Combs, leading some brands to cut ties with him and Hulu to scrap his upcoming reality show in recent days.

The first suit, filed in November by the singer Cassie, who dated Combs and was signed to his label, alleged that he urged her to have sex with male sex workers while he filmed, and later, that he raped her. In the most recent complaint, a woman identified only as Jane Doe says that in 2003, when she was 17, Combs had her flown on a private jet to New York, where he and two other men gave her drugs and alcohol and gang-raped her. The women have come forward because two New York laws — one of which paved the way for E. Jean Carroll’s successful lawsuit against Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation — opened limited windows of time in which people can file civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, even if the statute of limitations has passed. One of those windows closed in late November, explaining the flurry of recent complaints.

Combs has denied the allegations, saying in a statement, “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.” A spokesperson for Brafman & Associates, the law firm representing the rapper in the suits, declined Vox’s request for comment.

The cases have captured the public’s attention in part because Combs was such an influential executive and gatekeeper in music and fashion — yet one who had long been the subject of allegations of violence, including arrests. They are among the first major allegations in years against a major figure in the music industry, which many feel has failed to reckon with abuses of power, even at the height of the Me Too movement. Combs is just one of many powerful men who have evaded scrutiny, but whose alleged past conduct is being revisited now with fresh and more critical eyes, in some cases thanks to the landmark New York laws.

Indeed, Combs is now drawing comparisons to R. Kelly, with frequent critic 50 Cent announcing that he will produce a series about Combs in the style of the bombshell docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, with the proceeds going to assault survivors.

Dream Hampton, producer of Surviving R. Kelly, told the Times that an accounting was arriving for the Bad Boy founder. “Puff is done,” she said.

The suits against Combs also show that despite recent backlash, the Me Too movement and the legal and cultural changes that came with it have had an enduring impact. Even if allegations of sexual assault and harassment do not make daily headlines the way they did in 2017, the reckoning is ongoing — and no industry is likely to remain immune forever.

Diddy built an empire across multiple businesses

Combs is a producer and rapper who rose to become an influential figure across music, media, and fashion. He started Bad Boy Records in New York in 1993, when he was in his early 20s, and soon signed Notorious B.I.G., whose two albums helped define New York hip-hop in that era. Bad Boy would grow into a multimillion-dollar business, and Combs would produce iconic ’90s acts from Jodeci to Mary J. Blige. When Biggie was killed in 1997, Combs released a Grammy-winning tribute, “I’ll Be Missing You,” that “helped inaugurate a commercial boom in hip-hop that lasted until the end of the nineties,” according to Michael Specter of the New Yorker.

Combs was also one of the first to blend the worlds of hip-hop, business, and luxury. His fashion label, Sean John, founded in 1998, became known for high-end menswear. He promoted brands of vodka and tequila and hosted exclusive white parties in the Hamptons with guests like Martha Stewart. Though no longer as central a figure as he was in the ’90s, Combs remains a rich and well-connected celebrity: In recent months, he’s held a joint album release and birthday party attended by stars such as Naomi Campbell and Janet Jackson, performed for a sold-out crowd in London, and appeared at the homecoming celebration for his alma mater, Howard University, where he made a surprise $1 million donation.

Diddy, pictured at a performance in London in November.

 Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs

As Combs built his empire, however, he was also accused of multiple acts of violence. In 1999, he was arrested for beating another executive with a chair, a phone, and a champagne bottle (he had to pay a fine and take an anger management class, according to the New Yorker). The same year, he was involved in a shooting at a club in Manhattan, where he was attending a party with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez; witnesses said they saw him with a gun, but he was ultimately acquitted after a public, much-watched trial.

He has also been accused of threats and violence against women. In a 2019 interview, for example, his ex-girlfriend Gina Huynh said he had thrown a shoe at her and dragged her by the hair. But these reports have not received mainstream public attention — until now.

Singer Cassie filed suit against Diddy in November

In November, Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, sued Combs, alleging sexual assault and sex trafficking. In the suit, first reported by the New York Times, Ventura said she h from 

Combs, starting soon after she met him in 2005, when she was 19. She said he beat her repeatedly, at one point kicking her in the face, and said that later, in 2018, he raped her. She also said he trafficked her by coercing her to have sex with sex workers in different cities while he filmed and masturbated. She would try to delete the photos and videos afterward, but Combs retained access, she said in the suit, and at one point made her watch a video she thought she had deleted.

Ventura’s suit also said that Combs and th e her into silence and complie spoke out against him. In one particularly shocking detail, Ventura said Combs threatened to blow up the rapper Kid Cudi’s car because Cudi and Ventura were dating; the car later exploded. “This is all true,” a spokesperso car