In a still image from CNN video, Sean “Diddy” Combs is allegedly seen physically assaulting singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. (Image from CNN video)
By ANDREW DALTON | AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES — Security video aired by CNN appears to show Sean “Diddy” Combs physically assaulting singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
The video aired Friday appears to show Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching and kicking the R&B singer who was his protege and longtime girlfriend at the time. The footage also shows the music mogul shoving and dragging Cassie, and throwing a vase in her direction.
The video, dated March 5, 2016, closely resembles the description of an incident at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles described in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, that alleged years of sexual abuse and other violence from Combs.
The lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed, but spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
Representatives for Combs did not immediately provide comment on the video, but he has previously denied the allegations in the lawsuits, and his lawyers have said he denies any wrongdoing.
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CNN did not say how it obtained the video but noted it verified the location it was shot by comparing the footage to publicly available images of the InterContinental Hotel.
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs,” said Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Cassie who has filed other lawsuits against Combs. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Ventura has.
Associated Press Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum, Jr. contributed to this report.
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