GRAND OPENING and GRAND CLOSING! One day after filing EXPLOSIVE lawsuit against Diddy, the two have settled ‘AMICABLY’.
Sean Combs and the singer Cassie have reached a settlement just one day after she filed an explosive lawsuit accusing the hip-hop mogul of rape and numerous instances of physical abuse.
The parties announced on Friday evening that they had reached an agreement to resolve the case, though they disclosed no details about the terms of the settlement.
“I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control,” Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, said in a statement. “I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support.”
In a statement, Mr. Combs said: “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”
For Mr. Combs, the settlement quickly shuts down what could have been a risky and potentially embarrassing process of legal discovery — in which reams of evidence are made public — and a possible trial. And Ms. Ventura, who has already aired her accusations through a public complaint, avoids a cross-examination by Mr. Combs’s attorneys.
The court documents that Ventura provided were very salacious and potentially damning to the music mogul. If you missed the details of the court documents, you can revisit them HERE!
In a lawsuit that drew international attention, Ms. Ventura — who signed to Mr. Combs’s Bad Boy label in 2005, when she was 19, and dated him for about a decade — accused Mr. Combs of what she said was years of beatings, controlling behavior and various forms of sexual abuse, including a rape. In response, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, Ben Brafman, said, “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
According to Ms. Ventura’s suit, which was filed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Mr. Combs assaulted her numerous times, leaving her bloodied and bruised; she said his employees sometimes took her to hotel rooms for days to recover out of the public eye.
In one of the suit’s most disturbing allegations, Ms. Ventura said that for years she was forced to participate in sexual encounters with a succession of male prostitutes, as Mr. Combs watched, masturbated and recorded videos. According the suit, Mr. Combs called these events “freak offs,” and they took place in a number of high-end hotels throughout the United States.
According to Ms. Ventura’s suit, Mr. Combs controlled nearly every aspect of her life, paying for her homes, car, clothes and other necessities, and even had access to her personal medical records. The suit says Ms. Ventura never went to the police because she feared it “would merely give Mr. Combs another excuse to hurt her.”
Even with the settlement, however, the damage to Mr. Combs’s reputation and legacy may be substantial. In the day since Ms. Ventura’s suit was filed, past allegations of violence and abuse have been resurfaced, and various musicians have publicly signaled their support for Ms. Ventura.
Former BadBoy artists had even came out in support of Cassie.
Danity Kane member, Aubrey O’Day, who has been vocal about misdealings with Diddy for years had spoken up in solidarity for Cassie.
In an additional statement to Rolling Stone, O’Day made it clear that she’s “in complete support” of Cassie amid the ongoing lawsuit.
“Been trynna tell y’all for years. Prayers up for this queen 🙌🏼 @cassie,” O’Day, 39, captioned an Instagram Story post on Thursday, November 16. In a second post, she added, “Only day ya’ll are gonna put some respect on my name when I tell you things.”
“After years in silence and darkness,” she shared in a statement to The New York Times on Thursday. “I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships.”
O’Day previously appeared on MTV’s Making the Band 3, a reality show created by Diddy, from 2005 to 2006. During season 3, O’Day became a breakout star and was eventually chosen to be a member of Danity Kane alongside Dawn Richard and Shannon Bex, signing to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. However, Diddy revealed during the Making the Band 4 finale in 2008 that O’Day had been kicked out of the group.
“If u think what made the cut was as ugly as it got … you’re wrong,” O’Day claimed on Thursday, sharing a clip from Making the Band of a tense conversation she had with Diddy. “He was right, it gets dark and lonely.”
In an additional statement to Rolling Stone, O’Day made it clear that she’s “in complete support” of Cassie amid the ongoing lawsuit.
“It isn’t easy to take on one of the most powerful people in this industry and be honest about your experience with them. I know what her heart is feeling right now, because I have done so as well,” she noted. “May her voice bring all the others to the table, so we can start having more transparent conversations about what is actually happening behind the scenes. There is a lot more to all of our stories!”
Last year, O’Day claimed on an episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she was fired from Danity Kane because she “wasn’t willing to do what was expected of [her] — not talent-wise, but in other areas.”
She further claimed to be “the only girl that was in those types of positions,” explaining that she was “young and impressionable” at the time.
Now a SETTLEMENT is not an ADMISSION of guilt, but you have to look at the fact that it was only ONE DAY since news dropped that Cassie had filed. ONE BUSINESS DAY and both parties decided to ‘AMICABLY’ come to an agreement? It just seems so convenient. Diddy AVOIDS further DAMNING info of their time together coming out about him.
There have been MANY artists and industry insiders that have spoken about the DARK SIDE of dealing with Diddy. All these people can’t be just making these stories up.
But on the FLIPSIDE of this, Cassie conceded awfully quick as well! From the court documents she filed, Diddy did some REALLY terrible things to her for YEARS. And after one day, all us forgiven? The SETTLEMENT must have been quite HEFTY for her to get over decades of PAIN so quickly. And that is not VICTIM-SHAMING, it’s just stating the obvious. It comes off looking like a money grab at best. But who am I? At least this over for Diddy it seems, but the DAMAGE to his reputation may be too much to come back from. We will see…..
The Gamutt Blog 