Benzino has offered his take on the sexual abuse allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Born Raymond Leon Scott, Benzino is a music producer, entrepreneur and star of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. He waded into the sea of lawsuits against Diddy on a recent episode of the “We in Miami” podcast.
In the video uploaded to YouTube on April 24, Benzino said Diddy accuser, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, is looking for a payday.
“I know Rodney,” Benzino said. “Rod worked on The Love Album, so maybe there’s some discrepancy of Lil Rod being owed some money and he didn’t get his money.”
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Benzino questioned Lil Rod’s motives.
“History will tell us when people do this, it’s because they didn’t get the money they thought they deserved,” he said.
Lil Rod filed his bombshell lawsuit on Feb. 26 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The initial 73-page complaint alleged Diddy sexually assaulted and harassed Lil Rod, and tried to “steal” his publishing for producing nine tracks on the mogul’s recently released The Love Album: Off the Grid.
The lawsuit, which contains a “trigger warning” on the first page, additionally alleged Diddy illegally distributed guns and drugs, and provided “laced alcoholic beverages to minors and sex workers at his homes in California, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Florida.”
Diddy has denied all of the allegations. His attorney, Shawn Holley, called the claims in Lil Rod’s lawsuit “outlandish,” adding, “We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies.”
Back to Benzino, he mentioned the age of consent in Florida is 18 years old and said in some states it’s as low as 16 years old.
“They’re trying to bring him down,” he said about Diddy. “There’s no evidence of no young girl, or anything.”
The reality star also mentioned Diddy’s ex-girlfriend — R&B singer Cassie Ventura — who filed the first sex abuse lawsuit against the mogul on Nov. 16.
Diddy settled with Cassie the next day, but his attorney Benjamin Brafman said the settlement was in “no way an admission of wrongdoing” to the allegations in Cassie’s lawsuit.
Benzino said Cassie’s complaint made “the police immediately start investigating” Diddy, suggesting the lawsuit triggered the March 25 raids by federal agents on the mogul’s mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
Benzino went on to discuss R. Kelly and insisted the Grammy-winning artist “deserves a second chance,” despite being convicted on federal racketeering, sex trafficking, and child pornography charges.
You can watch Benzino’s full interview below.
