Rapper 50 Cent has weighed in after the release of video footage showing music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura.
CCTV footage from a 2016 incident shows Combs chasing the singer down a hotel hallway before punching and kicking her to the floor. Combs, wearing only a towel around his waist and a pair of socks, then attempts to drag Ventura back down the corridor.
Resharing the footage of the incident to his X/Twitter account, 50 Cent – real name Curtis Jackson – wrote: “Now I’m sure puffy didn’t do it, he is innocent this proves nothing! This is what his lawyers are gonna say, God help us all.”
“Puffy” is a reference to one of Combs’s many musical aliases, “Puff Daddy”, which also include “P Diddy” or simply “Diddy”.
In another post shared hours after the CCTV footage was released, the “In Da Club” rapper shared a picture of a statement previously posted by Combs, in which Combs denied the allegations of trafficking, rape and sexual abuse brought against him. 50 Cent wrote alongside it: “The lie detector test has determined this was a lie…”
The Independent has contacted Comb’s representatives for comment.
50 Cent has continued to publicly comment on the string of lawsuits brought against the musician in recent months. When Homeland Security raided both of Diddy’s homes “in connection with a federal sex trafficking investigation” on 25 March, 50 Cent posted an image of the raid, writing: “S*** just got real…The Fed’s in all the cribs, damn they got the kids in cuffs”.
In March, 50 Cent then teased a crowd at a show in Phoenix, saying: “We don’t want too much love, you know what happened with Brother Love and s***,” referring to the new nickname Diddy adopted in 2017.
The “21 Questions” singer also offered to buy Revolt, a television network Diddy founded with Andy Schuon in 2013, after Diddy stepped down as chair.
The rapper has also teased plans to make a documentary about Combs, claiming that the film would break viewing records. Alongside a parody cover art of Combs, 50 Cent wrote the caption on his social media channels: “This is going to break records when this drops.”
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The newly unearthed video from the 2016 CCTV footage appears to corroborate several allegations made in a lawsuit brought by Ventura in 2023, in which she claimed she was trafficked, raped and beaten by Combs on several occasions over 10 years.
The incident allegedly took place in the InterContinental Hotel, Los Angeles. CNN verified the location based on publicly available photos of the former hotel’s interior.
Combs had signed the R&B singer to his label in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37, and the pair entered into a relationship before the singer says a cycle of abuse began. Combs has strongly denied all allegations against him.
According to the complaint, which cited the hotel hallway altercation as occurring “around March 2016,” Combs became “extremely intoxicated and punched Ms Ventura in the face, giving her a black eye”.
After Combs fell asleep, Ventura said she had attempted to leave the hotel room, but he woke up and “followed her into the hallway of the hotel while yelling at her”, the complaint said.
“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,” it stated.
Combs is currently facing a string of civil lawsuits, which have accused him of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and rape. Combs has vehemently denied the allegations against him, while his lawyers have branded the lawsuits and their accusations as money grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.” The musician has not been formally charged.
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)