“The most honest thing Sean Combs has ever done is probably name his record label ‘Bad Boy’,” wrote The Independent.

Exactly three years after Sean “Diddy” Combs celebrated the #MeToo movement in a September 2021 op-ed, and just a year after performing a slew of hits to accept the Global Icon award at the VMAs, the rapper has been arrested on a slew of serious criminal charges.

The 14-page indictment, released last week, alleges that Diddy has abused and threatened victims since 2008 to satisfy his sexual desires. To commit the crimes, the rapper directed and participated in a conspiracy to extort money, using his business empire to cover up his criminal activities.

“Combs used sensitive and embarrassing recordings as evidence against his victims, and the indictment alleges that he controlled his victims in a variety of ways, including by providing them with drugs, providing or threatening to withhold financial support, housing, and promising them career opportunities,” Damian Williams, a representative of the US Attorney’s Office in New York, said.

The development of the case is still causing many people to go from shock to shock.

The 11th victim speaks out

Rolling Stone reported on September 25 that a woman named Thalia Graves filed a lawsuit accusing Diddy and Joseph Sherman (her bodyguard and security director) of drugging, sexually assaulting and filming her without her consent. The incident reportedly took place in the summer of 2001, at a studio in Manhattan.

Graves said she suffered from depression, anxiety and panic attacks in the years that followed. In November 2023, she learned of the existence of the recording, and the fact that Combs had sold it as a pornographic video.

Sobbing at a press conference, she said, “The pain goes beyond the physical injury, it reaches deep inside me, leaving emotional scars that will never fully heal.” The defendant is seeking damages, other expenses, and most importantly, punitive damages.

This is the 11th person to accuse Diddy of sexual assault since Cassie filed her lawsuit last year. At the time, Cassie accused her ex of physical abuse, sexual slavery, and forced rape for more than a decade.

Cassie and Diddy at an event years ago. Photo: EW.

The lawsuit also accuses Diddy of forcing his girlfriend to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them and gave her drugs. Cassie claims that the rapper was “prone to uncontrollable rages and would often brutally beat her.” The abuse was allegedly witnessed by Diddy’s employees, but “no one dared to stand up to the scary and violent boss.”

In another development, Kim’s Lost Words, a book compiled from the diary of Kim Porter – Diddy’s late lover – revealed that the man born in 1969 had a hobby of holding parties with beautiful names to attract large numbers of participants, but when they arrived, they found out that it was actually a wild sex party that was filmed.

“Our sex life was crazy,” Porter wrote in the book. She said Diddy slept with both women and men, including famous rappers and singers. The memoir includes a passage in which the model discovered Diddy’s sex tapes in her bedroom vault and copied them to defend herself after leaving the rapper.

Diddy has expressed outrage at what his ex wrote from prison, People reported, and has denied all accusations against him. However, the rap mogul’s defense has been weakened as evidence has emerged that has revealed growing cracks in Combs’ carefully crafted reputation.

The most shocking evidence was 1,000 large bottles of baby oil found by the US Department of Homeland Security in Diddy’s home. CNN also released CCTV footage from March 2016 showing Combs chasing Cassie and attacking her in a hotel.

Outrage rages

The Guardian observed that few celebrities have come to Diddy’s defense. This is not surprising, similar to the case involving movie mogul Harvey Weinstein – who is also incarcerated in New York.

Rapper 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson III, posted a photo with actress Drew Barrymore on X with the caption: “I’m on good terms with Barrymore and don’t have 1,000 bottles of lube in my house.”

Danity Kane’s Aubrey O’Day – a frequent critic of Combs – said she felt “her voice was recognized” when Diddy was arrested and the truth gradually came out. “It’s a victory for women all over the world,” O’Day said.

Meanwhile, Kesha posted a video criticizing the scandal-hit producer, in which she changed the lyrics to her hit Tik Tok song that mentioned him.

In the article: “The stunning fall of Sean “Diddy” Combs – from music mogul to criminal charges”, The Guardian’s author wrote that Diddy always painted a rosy world, where the halo of light and beautiful images were so overwhelming that people were blinded, but the truth could be just a picture stained with dirt and crime.

The Independent’s writer Sheila Flynn called Diddy “the leader of a criminal enterprise”, and listed a series of crimes that the rapper and the organization behind him had committed over the years. There was a passage emphasizing: “23 years ago, Diddy celebrated the continued success of the albums Bad Boy for Life and The Saga Continues. Perhaps both album titles reflected the rapper’s true self, and more than that, they were a foreshadowing of his future”.

On X, thousands of posts tagged #Diddy were boycotting the rapper and demanding justice for the women (and men) who were victims of the infamous star.

As for Diddy, his efforts to block the media failed to stem the growing wave of public outrage. The pressure was so great that Howard University revoked the honorary degree that Diddy was so proud of. The mayor of New York asked Combs to return the keys to the city. Even Miami Beach rescinded its declaration that October 13 was “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Day.”

When prosecutors hand over the evidence to Diddy’s defense (which includes testimony from some 300 subpoenas of individuals to appear before a jury), there will certainly be a review of how Combs hid his own apparent misconduct in a well-planned scheme, according to Anna Cominsky, director of the Criminal Law Clinic at New York Law School.

Damian Williams, another attorney, told The Guardian that the 14-page indictment is not the end of the criminal charges against Diddy. More material will be released to prove the multi-party racketeering and sex trafficking conspiracy.

Great Books About the Entertainment Industry

The Arts and Entertainment Library features the latest and greatest books about the entertainment industry and popular arts. In addition, the bookshelf also recommends a series of worth-reading works about famous artists in Vietnam and the world, helping readers understand and know more about behind-the-scenes stories that have never been revealed.