Contained in a new wave of lawsuits that have been filed against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is an allegation that a professional athlete allegedly stopped the embattled music mogul from sexually assaulting a man at one of his celeb-filled parties in 2022.
In court papers viewed by the New York Post, the man, who heads up a Los Angeles-based business renting luxury cars and jewelry, claims Combs groped him and that the attack only came to a halt because an unnamed sports star intervened.
“Combs continued to move closer and then grabbed Plaintiff’s genitals through his pants, squeezing them in a rough and sexual manner,” the suit alleges. “Plaintiff, shocked and disoriented, frozen momentarily and did not know how to respond to the weirdly inappropriate sexual advance made by Combs.”
The alleged assault ended when the sports personality — who is identified as“Professional Athlete A” — came upon the scene and stopped the attack.
A photo with Combs appearing alongside other “other high profile individuals” at the party was included as part of the lawsuit, but according to the Post, the faces of the individuals have been “blurred.”
According to another plaintiff, who was 16 at the time he claims he was abused in 1998, Combs allegedly asked him to “drop his pants,” calling it “a rite of passage.”
The man, who is identified only as John Doe in his lawsuit, said that Combs told him “the only thing that mattered was having the right look for the industry,” the Washington Post reported.
Afterward, Combs said “his people would be in touch” before he returned to the party, which Doe said was filled with “countless celebrities.”
In another allegation against the Bad Boy Records founder filed this week, a woman claimed Combs drugged and raped her when she was 13 years old as an unnamed “male celebrity” and “female celebrity” participated.
The new claims were filed by Tony Buzbee’s Buzbee Law Firm, which announced earlier this month it is filing 120 lawsuits against Combs, who has been in federal custody since his Sept. 16 arrest at a Manhattan hotel after police charged him with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
In the lawsuit, which was obtained by the Associated Press, Variety, Deadline and NBC News, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, claims she was assaulted after attending a party that followed the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000 when she was 13.
The woman says that she was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement and given a drink that made her “feel woozy and lightheaded.”
“Looking for a place to rest, Plaintiff entered what she believed to be an empty bedroom so she could lie down for a moment,” reads the lawsuit.
She alleges that Combs entered the room with “a male and female celebrity” and “aggressively approached Plaintiff with a crazed look in his eyes, grabbed her, and said, ‘You are ready to party!’”
Combs then threw the girl toward another male celebrity, who is referred to in the lawsuit as “Celebrity A.”
“Plaintiff was held down by Celebrity A who vaginally raped her while Combs and Celebrity B, a female, watched. After the male celebrity finished, Combs then vaginally raped Plaintiff while the Celebrity A and Celebrity B watched. Combs attempted to force Plaintiff to perform oral sex on him, but she resisted by hitting Combs in the neck; he stopped,” the lawsuit adds.
After the alleged assault, the woman says she “fell into a deep depression which continues to affect every facet of her life.”
In a statement to the AP, Combs’ representatives slammed the latest lawsuits and called them “clear attempts to garner publicity.” They said Combs and his legal team “have full confidence in the facts, their legal defences, and the integrity of the judicial process.”
Combs “has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman,” they added.
The I’ll Be Missing You hitmaker’s notorious “White Parties” attracted a who’s who of Hollywood over the years.
In the days after Combs’ arrest last month, photos emerged on social media showing such notable names as Jennifer Lopez, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z, Ashton Kutcher and others attending his “White Parties.”
In a resurfaced clip from a 2014 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Khloe Kardashian spoke about going to one of Combs’ bashes where “half the people there were butt naked” and running into Justin Bieber.
During a September 2019 appearance on Hot Ones, Kutcher was asked by host Sean Evans about the events hosted by Combs. “I’ve got a lot I can’t tell,” the That ’70s Show star said. “Diddy party stories, man — that was some weird memory lane thing.”
A source told US Weekly that Denzel Washington allegedly lost his cool at one of Combs’ soirees more than 20 years ago.
“Denzel screamed, ‘You don’t respect anyone,’” the insider recalled of the blowup that occurred in 2003. “(Denzel and his wife, Pauletta) had been partying until dawn (with Diddy), and they had seen something and stormed out.”
Meanwhile, a person close to DiCaprio denied the actor participated in any illegal activities during Combs’ swanky get-togethers.
“Leonardo DiCaprio has absolutely nothing to do with any of this,” a source told the Daily Mail. “He attended a few of his parties back in the early 2000s – but literally everyone did. They were not freak offs. They were big house parties. Leo was at the start of his career at the time and has moved way past his partying. He has nothing to do with any of that world, so for anyone to assume that he will get roped into this based on a few grainy photos that are more than 20 years old is ridiculous.”
Earlier this month, a source told Us Weekly that A-list attendees at Combs’ bashes knew when to head to the exit.
“What happened before 2 a.m. pales in comparison to what happened at 5 a.m.,” the insider told the outlet.
“Girls would start to lose their clothes,” another individual told the magazine. “That was the signal for people to leave.”
Celebrity PR expert Eric Schiffer says that celebrities are staying quiet about Combs’ parties to preserve their own standing in Hollywood.
“Celebrities are silent because they are scared to death of their brands bleeding out with fans over ties to Diddy, and fear if they cross him, things could turn bad. Most are still best served by staying dark,” Schiffer, CEO of Reputation Management Consultants, tells Postmedia.
In a 2006 interview, Combs said his lavish parties were meant to bridge the worlds of hip-hop and Hollywood.
“I wanted to strip away everyone’s image and put us all in the same colour, and on the same level,” he said in a in conversation with Oprah Winfrey. “I had the craziest mix. Some of my boys from Harlem; Leonardo DiCaprio, after he’d just finished Titanic. I had socialites there and relatives from down South. There were 200 people sitting out here, just having a down-home cookout.”
But in a resurfaced clip from a 2002 interview with Conan O’Brien, Combs hinted at the darkness that may have been hidden beneath the glamour.
“You’re legendary for the parties that you throw. You throw a great party,” O’Brien said to Combs in the segment, which was shared to X and viewed over 16.4 million times. “What’s the ingredient? What do you do to make an amazing, killer party?”
“Women, beautiful women, of course,” Combs replied. “Beautiful men for the ladies, of course. There’s enough ladies to go around. You have to give the ladies what they need too. You have to take care of your women. You can’t force the situation.”
Combs continued, adding that his parties required a variety of “alcohols” and water.
“You need some water. I don’t know if guys have noticed this but a lot of ladies drink water at parties, so if you don’t have what they need, they’re going to leave. Gotta keep them there. Need locks on the doors,” he said.
“This is sounding kind of dangerous now,” O’Brien replied.