LOS ANGELES – Sean “Diddy” Combs admitted that he hit his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 after CNN published video of the attack, saying in a video apology that he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions in this video. I was disgusted at the time when I did it. I am disgusted now,” the music mogul said in a video statement posted to Instagram and Facebook on Sunday.
Security video aired Friday shows Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching and kicking Cassie, an R&B singer who was his protégé and longtime girlfriend on the time. The footage also shows Combs pushing and pulling Cassie and throwing a vase in her direction.
Cassie, whose real name is Cassandra Ventura, sued Combs in November alleging years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The lawsuit was settled the following day, but sparked intense scrutiny of Combs. Several more lawsuits were filed within the months that followed, together with a federal criminal investigation into sex trafficking that led authorities to go looking Combs' mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
He had denied the allegations within the lawsuits, but neither he nor his representatives had responded to the newly surfaced video as of Sunday.
“It's so difficult to think about the darkest times in life, but sometimes you have to,” Diddy says within the video. He added: “I went and sought professional help. I went to therapy, to rehab. I had to ask God for His grace and grace. I am so sorry. But I am committed to being a better person every day. I don't ask for forgiveness. I'm really sorry.”
Combs looks sombre in the selfie-style apology video, wearing a T-shirt and appearing to be on a patio. It's the hip-hop mogul's most direct response and first apology after six months of allegations that have threatened his reputation and career.
In December, after Ventura and at least three other women filed lawsuits against him, Combs released a statement on Instagram largely denying the truth of all the statements.
“Let me be very clear. “I didn’t do any of the terrible things that are alleged,” the post reads.
The March 5, 2016, security camera video closely resembles the outline of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel within the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles described within the Ventura lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the safety video immediately after the incident. Neither he nor his representatives responded to this specific accusation. CNN didn’t say the way it obtained the footage.
The suit said Ventura was attempting to escape a sleeping Combs, who had already punched her within the face before the video began.
Combs is in no danger of being prosecuted for the beating. The statute of limitations for the bodily harm and bodily harm he’s more likely to face expired years ago.
The same goes for lots of the allegations within the lawsuits, however the federal investigators pursuing Combs are likely in search of possible crimes they will bring under the law.
Ventura signed to Diddy's label in 2005. The two had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship for greater than a decade starting in 2007.
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