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Science & Environment
Sean “Diddy” Combs returns key to New York City…
NEW YORK — Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has honored a request from New York City Mayor Eric Adams to return the key to city which he was given last year.
Combs was given the key in a Times Square ceremony in September 2023, coinciding with the release of the artist’s album “The Love Album: Off The Grid.”
“The bad boy of entertainment is getting the Key to the City from the bad boy of politics,” Adams said at the time.
In the months since, Combs has faced lawsuits from multiple women accusing him of sexual assault and abuse. One man also accused Combs of sexual misconduct.
In May 2024, surveillance video from a 2016 incident was released that appears to show Combs attacking singer Cassie, who was his girlfriend at the time, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway. Days after the video’s release, Combs posted a video on social media apologizing for the alleged attack, saying in part, “My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
Adams asks “Diddy” to return key to New York City
On June 4, the mayor wrote to one of Combs’ companies, saying he was “deeply disturbed” by the surveillance video, and requesting the key to the city be returned.
“The Key to the City of New York is presented to individuals whose service to the public and the common good rises to the highest level of achievement, and who act as a model for fellow and future New Yorkers. After internal deliberations, the Key to the City of New York committee recommended nullifying and rescinding Mr. Combs’ key. I have accepted their recommendation,” Adams wrote.
The mayor requested Combs send the key to City Hall immediately.
The mayor’s office said it received the returned key Monday.
Earlier this month, Howard University rescinded an honorary degree Combs had been awarded in 2014 and cut financial ties with him.
Science & Environment
Howard University cuts ties with Sean
Howard University rescinded the honorary degree it awarded hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and cut ties with him weeks after a recently released 2016 video appeared to show him attacking R&B singer and ex-girlfriend, Cassie.
The university’s Board of Trustees said it also directed administrators to cut financial ties to Combs, including returning a $1 million contribution, ending the scholarship program and dissolving a 2023 pledge agreement with the Sean Combs Foundation.
“Mr. Combs’ behavior as captured in a recently released video is so fundamentally incompatible with Howard University’s core values and beliefs that he is deemed no longer worthy to hold the institution’s highest honor,” a statement said.
The statement said the board voted unanimously Friday to accept the return of the honorary degree Combs received in 2014.
“This acceptance revokes all honors and privileges associated with the degree. Accordingly, the Board has directed that his name be removed from all documents listing honorary degree recipients of Howard University,” it said.
An email seeking comment was sent to a Combs spokesperson by The Associated Press on Saturday.
Last month, CNN released a video of the 2016 attack in a Los Angeles hotel hallway. In a video statement posted on social media, Combs admitted to beating Cassie and said that he was “truly sorry” for his “inexcusable” actions.
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” Combs said. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
The video was the latest in a months-long series of public allegations and revelations of physical and sexual violence against Combs.
A lawsuit filed last year by Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, described an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles. In it, she also alleged years of sexual abuse and other violence from Combs. That lawsuit was settled.
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Sean
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ troubles continued Tuesday as a lawsuit filed in New York federal court accused the hip-hop mogul of drugging and sexually assaulting a model in 2003.
The lawsuit was filed by Crystal McKinney under the NYC Gender Motivated Violence Act, which allows victims of violence committed on the basis of gender in the city to sue their abusers, regardless of when the abuse took place. The window for filing lawsuits under that act expires in 2025.
McKinney is also suing Combs’ record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, his label’s distributor, Universal Music Group, and Combs’ fashion brand, Sean John Clothing.
According to the suit, then 22-year-old McKinney, who was a rising fashion model, was introduced to Combs by an unnamed fashion designer in 2003. The suit alleges the designer dressed and styled McKinney “to ensure Combs found her attractive” before taking her to meet Combs at Cipriani Downtown, a New York City restaurant.
According to the lawsuit, Combs made a number of flirtatious and sexually suggestive remarks about McKinney’s appearance in front of the other dinner guests, including the designer. Later that night, Combs allegedly invited McKinney to his recording studio, where he was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana with several male companions, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit says that Comb passed McKinney a joint, saying, “You’ve never had weed like this before,” which McKinney interpreted to mean the marijuana was laced with some other drug.
“Although plaintiff insisted that she had enough after that, Combs pressured her to imbibe more alcohol and marijuana by telling her that she was acting too uptight,” the lawsuit reads.
After McKinney became “very intoxicated,” the lawsuit claims, Combs led her into the bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterward, she alleges she lost consciousness and woke up in a cab.
CBS News has reached out to Combs’ representatives for comment. Universal Music Group declined to comment “pending lawyers’ review of the lawsuit.”
DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty Images
McKinney claims her modeling opportunities disappeared after the alleged incident because Combs had her “‘blackballed’ in the industry and utilized his significant influence to impede [her] career growth.” According to the suit, in the years following the alleged incident, McKinney became anxious, depressed and addicted to drugs and alcohol, and she attempted suicide around 2004.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a security video aired by CNN on Friday that allegedly shows Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. Combs on Sunday publicly apologized for the incident, saying his behavior was “inexcusable,” and that he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.
Earlier this month, Combs asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a “false and hideous claim” that was filed too late under the law.
In March, Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security Investigations agents and other law enforcement officers due to a possible ongoing sex trafficking investigation, U.S. officials said at the time.
Other accusations against the music mogul include those made by two women in November last year, one week after he settled a separate lawsuit with the singer Cassie that contained allegations of rape and physical abuse. The women’s lawsuits were filed on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations.
In February, a male music producer also filed a federal lawsuit against Combs accusing him of sexual misconduct.
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Sean
Sean “Diddy” Combs apologized for the recently surfaced security video aired by CNN that appears to show him attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. He said his behavior was “inexcusable” and he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.
The hip-hop mogul took to social media on Sunday to apologize for the alleged attack and said in a video on Instagram he is “disgusted” by his actions.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said on Instagram. “I was f—ed up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
The video, which CNN first aired on Friday, is the latest in a months-long series of public allegations and revelations of physical and sexual violence against Combs.
In the video, Combs, wearing only a white towel, is seen apparently punching and kicking the R&B singer who was his protege and longtime girlfriend at the time. The footage also shows Combs allegedly shoving and dragging Ventura, and throwing a vase in her direction.
The security camera video, dated March 5, 2016, closely resembles the description of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles described in a November lawsuit filed by Ventura, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, that alleged years of sexual abuse and other violence from Combs.
The lawsuit alleges Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the security video. CNN did not say how it obtained the video but noted it verified the location where it was shot by comparing the footage to publicly available images of the InterContinental Hotel.
Diddy has denied the allegations in the lawsuit but neither he nor his representatives had responded on the video until Sunday.
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” Combs said Sunday. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
On Friday, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office said in a statement that they were “aware of the video.” They said the images are “extremely disturbing and difficult to watch,” but that “we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”
A lawyer for Ventura told CBS News in a statement that Combs’ statement on Sunday was “more about himself than the many people he has hurt.”
“When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday,” Meredith Firetog, a partner at Wigdor LLP said in a statement. “That he was only compelled to ‘apologize’ once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words.”