When news breaks, you need to understand what matters β and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital.
We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today? Combs has faced growing public scrutiny since last November, when the singer Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs abused her, urged her to have sex with male sex workers while he filmed, and that he later raped her. After the video was released, Combs posted a minute-long apology on Instagram acknowledging that it was him captured on the footage.
Plaintiffs in the other cases have stated that Diddy β whose birth name is Sean Combs and who has also publicly gone by Puff Daddy, Puffy, and Love β 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.
Speculation around the accusations escalated as homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach linked to Diddy were raided by federal authorities in March, who revealed that the raids were linked to an ongoing investigation into sex trafficking allegations. Especially in the s and s, Diddy was a figure of enormous power, not just in hip-hop but in the business and entertainment worlds writ large. In recent months, however, multiple people have sued him , saying he used that influence and wealth to sexually victimize and, in some cases, traffic them, while avoiding consequences for decades.
