The mounting allegations against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
For decades, hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been a music powerhouse. He’s now subject to lawsuits alleging abuse, sexual violence and sex trafficking. Today, what we know about the allegations and the ripples in the music industry.
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Late last month, armored trucks, helicopters and swarms of federal agents descended on two homes owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami.
The searches were part of an ongoing investigation into Combs by the Department of Homeland Security. He is now the focus of six lawsuits alleging physical violence, sexual abuse and sex trafficking stretching back to the beginning of Combs’s career in the early ’90s.
The artist and producer – who has also been known onstage as Puff Daddy, Puffy and P. Diddy – has denied all allegations against him. The lawsuits claim that many people in Combs’s circle helped facilitate his abusive behavior, implicating a web of high-profile names in the music industry.
Anne Branigin has been watching the investigation unfold. She says the allegations could lead to a larger reckoning about misogyny, violence and the exploitation of women in the music industry.
Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson with help from Emma Talkoff. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Lucy Perkins.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just a heads up, this episode includes discussions of sexual assault, so please take care while listening. |
| 0:10.0 | Sean Combs has been one of the most powerful people in hip-hop for decades. |
| 0:16.0 | Sean Diddy Combs, he's also been known as Puff Daddy or P-Diddy. |
| 0:21.6 | He's a superstar record producer, an artist, and a hip-hop |
| 0:25.5 | mogul. That is Anne Branigan. She's a staff writer at the post. And he's most |
| 0:31.1 | well known from his work in the 90s when he founded the record label |
| 0:34.4 | Bad Boy which signs some of the biggest acts in hip-hop, you know, most notably |
| 0:38.8 | notorious BIG. Combs has been out of the limelight for some time, but recently he has been back in the headlines. |
| 0:46.0 | First, for several lawsuits that were filed against him over the last few months alleging sexual assault. |
| 0:52.0 | And then, just a few weeks ago there was another |
| 0:55.0 | development. Two raids, two homes, one iconic music producer. Tonight Sean P. Diddy |
| 1:01.7 | Combs is back in the headlines as his mansions in |
| 1:04.2 | Los Angeles and Miami are rated by Homeland Security. |
| 1:07.8 | He heavily armored federal agents making their way into the home on Maplton Drive |
| 1:11.8 | associated with Rap Mobile Sean Diddy Combs and |
| 1:14.7 | his production company Bad Boy Films. Dozens of agents search the property for hours |
| 1:19.6 | leaving. A couple weeks ago his homes were raided by the Department of Homeland Security, and this |
| 1:25.1 | happened after a slew of lawsuits against them have been filed. |
| 1:29.0 | And these lawsuits include accusations that involve physical abuse, sexual assault, and sex trafficking. |
| 1:35.6 | Any mention of sort of sexual assault and sex trafficking |
| 1:38.9 | and physical abuse comes from a set of lawsuits that have all been filed within the last five months |
| 1:46.4 | and these are allegations that are explicitly written out in those lawsuits. |
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