How a New York state law opened Sean Diddy Combs to sexual assault lawsuits

Sidney Madden, NPR Music:

The tidal wave of allegations really started with the case that was filed by, as you said, Cassie Ventura, who was Diddy's not only longtime partner, romantic partner, but also one of his employees at Bad Boy Entertainment.

And this was really big news in the hip-hop space and beyond for a few key reasons. First of all, the severity of the allegations were utterly shocking. In the civil suit that Cassie filed, she detailed almost a decade of psychological and physical abuse, moments where he had complete control over her life, coercion.

She even alleged that he raped her in her own home towards the end of their relationship and that he once blew up the car of a man who was interested in Cassie. So the details of this case filing were absolutely explosive, no pun intended there.

But then also another factor is the stature of Diddy overall. This is a man who's been ubiquitous in the hip-hop and music space for over 30 years at this point. He's credited with making the careers of people like Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige. And even now, he is one of hip-hop's billionaires.

He's someone who's skyrocketed in not only the music space, but wine and spirits, restauranteuring, media, with his own company, Revolt Entertainment. And so he's someone who's one of the most well-connected, influential, and richest people, definitely a power player in this space.

So to hear of these allegations and these indiscretions was a big shock.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bjsri%2Fx6isq2ejnby4e8eormaZXaOyuHnYqKmkZaOprrWxjKWYsGWfpbKvscNmqp6ZnmKxqrDDsmScp52XwG7AzmaqnrCllrlurdKsmK6kpGK5osPSrqCtqw%3D%3D