Sean “Diddy” Combs has returned his symbolic key to New York City, as the fallout continues from a leaked video that showed him physically attacking ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at a hotel in 2016.
The New York native was awarded the key in September 2023. He sent it back last week, according to a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams.
In a letter to Combs obtained by USA Today, Adams said he was “deeply disturbed” by the hotel surveillance footage that showed Combs kicking and dragging Ventura down a hallway.
“I strongly condemn these actions and stand in solidarity with all survivors of domestic and gender-based violence,” Adams wrote in the letter. “Our city has worked tirelessly to make sure survivors are heard and seen by our administration.”
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The letter was dated June 4, according to Fabien Levy, deputy mayor of communications for Adams. The key was returned on June 10.
Diddy received the special honor during a ceremony in Times Square on Sept. 15, 2023. The Bad Boy Records founder smiled broadly while surrounded by city officials.
“Thank you very much. In life, you’ll go through some storms and some hard times. But when God pulls you out of that storm, you start to thrive,” Diddy said at the time.
Adams described himself as the “bad boy of politics” at the ceremony and said he was “proud” to give Diddy the key.
The ceremony was held on the same day the rapper and producer’s The Love Album: Off the Grid was released.
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who produced nine tracks on the album, is among at least seven people who have accused Combs of sexual abuse in lawsuits filed since November 2023.
An eighth lawsuit accused the mogul of aiding and abetting his son Christian Combs, who is alleged to have sexually assaulted a yacht stewardess on a boat his father chartered for a New Year’s Eve celebration in December 2022. Both Diddy and Christian denied the woman’s allegations.
Cassie Ventura filed the first lawsuit in November 2023. Ventura’s 35-page complaint alleged rape, sexual battery, and human trafficking.
The mogul settled the lawsuit after one day. Although one of his legal reps said the settlement was in “no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
On May 17, CNN aired surveillance video recorded at a hotel in Los Angeles in 2016, that showed Combs chasing Ventura down a hallway, then violently pushing her to the ground, kicking her and dragging her back to his room.
Ventura detailed the attack in her lawsuit and alleged “Mr. Combs paid the InterContinental Century City $50,000 for the hallway security footage from that evening.”
On May 19, Diddy issued an apology amid public outcry, saying “he was truly sorry” for attacking Ventura.
Before releasing his video statement, Diddy had called the allegations made by his accusers “sickening” and insisted he was innocent.
“Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” he said in a statement in December.
Combs is also the subject of a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, and had his homes in Los Angeles and Miami raided on March 25.
Earlier this month, Howard University revoked an honorary degree given to the mogul in 2014 and returned a $1 million dollar donation he made to the HBCU located in Washington, D.C.
Revolt TV, a multi-media company and cable network that Combs founded in 2013, cut all ties with him and said his “shares have been redeemed and retired.”
In December, Hulu halted production on a reality show titled Diddy+7, about the mogul and his seven children.
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