Sean “Diddy” Combs is embroiled in another legal battle, only this time the music mogul isn’t the one being sued.
On Wednesday, Jan. 22, attorneys for the jailed Bad Boy Records founder filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit in New York federal court naming grand jury witness Courtney Burgess, his attorney Ariel Mitchell, and NewsNation parent company Nexstar Media as defendants.
According to the 17-page complaint obtained by Urban Hollywood 411, Diddy is accusing Burgess and Mitchell of “fabricating outlandish claims and stirring up baseless speculation” about him to “gain social media fame” and “enrich themselves.”
The suit claims Burgess and his attorney have been profiting by claiming in podcast interviews and on NewsNation that he has flash drives and videos supporting sexual abuse allegations against the mogul.
Diddy’s lawyers insist “no such video exists.”
Related: Diddy Demands Gag Order to Stop Grand Jury Witness From Making ‘False’ Claims
In a September interview on NewsNation, Mitchell said she had “seen stills” from an alleged pornographic video of Combs with someone who appeared unaware that they were being recorded.
The lawsuit claims Burgess and Mitchell have been “vying to outdo each other in a shameless competition to draw attention to themselves, with no regard for the truth.”
“The torrent of lies, and the immeasurable harm and prejudice it is causing to Mr. Combs, must stop,” the lawsuit says.
The complaint also calls out Mitchell for repeating Burgess’ claims in the Peacock documentary The Making of a Bad Boy, which premiered on Jan. 14.
Diddy is seeking a jury trial and damages “not less than $50 million.”
In a statement to the New York Times, Burgess fired back at the mogul, who is facing a string of federal charges.
“I’m standing by my word,” Burgess said. “He had a lot of nerve to want to sue somebody when he’s going to rot in jail for all of the things he’s done.”
Mitchell, who is also representing some of Diddy’s accusers, told TMZ she won’t be intimidated.
“This is just a pathetic ploy to silence victims and people who stand up for victims,” she said. “I look forward to countersuing and ensuring the court punishes not only Diddy but also his lawyers who filed this pathetic lawsuit for this frivolous and meritless filing.”
NewsNation and Nexstar did not respond to Urban Hollywood 411‘s request for comment.
Burgess is a music producer and says he’s a former associate of Diddy. As previously reported, Burgess claims he has videos of eight celebrity “victims” allegedly being abused by Combs.
In October, Burgess told TMZ he was called to testify before a grand jury in Diddy’s trafficking case, after federal prosecutors learned about the claims he made in various interviews.
Burgess and Mitchell then sat down for an interview with NewsNation host Ashleigh Banfield. Burgess said Diddy’s late ex-girlfriend Kim Porter had passed along 11 flash drives before she died for safe keeping.
He claimed the drives contain videos showing eight celebrities — six males and two females — at Diddy “freak-off” parties, and “all” of the celebs were allegedly “victims.”
“Two to three, possibly three” appeared to be minors, Burgess stated.
In addition to the purported videos, Burgess said the flash drives contained an alleged manuscript from Porter, which was turned into a memoir.
“The manuscript that Mr. Burgess received was already in its complete form,” Mitchell added. “It’s not that he edited it or changed it.”
The two said Porter’s alleged memoir released on Amazon last year — and quickly removed — was “edited.”
Since November 2023, Diddy has been hit with dozens of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse. The mogul has denied all of the allegations through his attorneys, who say he “never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman.”
Diddy was arrested on Sept. 16 in New York City on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He is currently jailed in Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center as he awaits trial, after being denied bail three times.
A federal judge set a May 5, 2025 trial date for the mogul.
The image above shows (L-R) Sean Combs, Courtney Burgess and Ariel Mitchell.
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