Diddy-Dirty Money singer Kalenna Harper has denied claims her former bandmate Dawn Richard made in an explosive sexual abuse lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
On Friday, Sept. 13, Kalenna released a statement on her Instagram stories and contradicted some of Dawn’s claims in the civil complaint.
“I, acknowledge the recent lawsuit filed by Dawn Richard in which my name has been mentioned 33 times,” Kalenna began. “While I fully respect Dawn’s right to recount her experiences, I want to emphasize that her account reflects her personal perspective and should not be interpreted as a universal truth applicable to everyone involved.”
Kalenna, 42, went on to say Dawn’s allegations “do not align” with her own truth.
“It’s important to understand that while I was present in some of the same professional settings mentioned, any of the allegations and incidents described in this suit are not representative of my experiences, and some do not align with my own truth,” the statement continued.
Related: Dawn Richard of Danity Kane Hits Diddy With Explosive Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
Kalenna is married to and managed by music producer Tony Vick, who has appeared on the reality series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.
According to Dawn’s lawsuit, Vick is a “close” associate of Diddy.
In her statement, Kalenna said she and her husband “were not involved” in any “abusive or unlawful” activities.
“Tony and I have always conducted ourselves with the highest level of professionalism and integrity. We were not involved in, nor were we aware of, any behavior that could be considered abusive or unlawful,” Kalenna said.
She ended her statement by writing, “I trust that the legal system will handle this case with the fairness and thoroughness it requires, and I support any process that seeks to uncover the truth.”
Dawn, 41, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, Sept. 10 in federal court in New York.
The singer-songwriter accused Diddy of verbal abuse, assault, sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sex trafficking, false imprisonment, stealing her copyrighted work, and withholding her earnings.
Dawn, who was selected to participate on Diddy’s MTV reality series Making the Band in 2004, signed a contract with Bad Boy Records as part of the group Danity Kane.
Related: Dawn Richard Alleges Diddy ‘Punched’ Cassie in Front of These Celebs – and No One Intervened
After Danity Kane disbanded, she joined the trio Diddy-Dirty Money in 2009, with Diddy and Kalenna.
In her 55-page complaint, Dawn said she and Kalenna were present at a dinner party at a West Hollywood, California restaurant, when Diddy “hissed” at his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, and allegedly “punched her in the stomach, causing her to double over in visible pain, crying.”
Page 15 of the complaint said several other industry insiders were at the dinner, including Usher, Ne-Yo, and Jimmy Iovine, then-CEO of Interscope Records, when the incident happened in or around late 2009 or early 2010. The lawsuit said no one intervened to help Cassie.
Richard also alleged in the lawsuit that Tony Vick abused his wife Kalenna.
“Ms. Harper confided in Ms. Richard that her husband and manager, Tony Vick (“Mr. Vick”), was abusive. After an especially severe assault, she confided in Ms. Richard that she wanted to leave Mr. Vick, and Ms. Richard helped her to plan her exit from the relationship. However, Ms. Harper and Mr. Vick reconciled, and both Mr. Combs and Mr. Vick – who had a close relationship – learned of Ms. Richard’s role in helping Ms. Harper. Both Mr. Combs and Mr. Vick became noticeably distrustful of Ms. Richard, which exacerbated her fears of harm and reprisal,” the lawsuit said on page 22.
Kalenna previously defended Diddy in a Rolling Stone article published in May 2024 about the mogul’s “history of violence” and the mounting civil lawsuits against him.
She praised the embattled the Bad Boy founder, saying he was “cool as s–t” when they worked together, and some of the people speaking out against him have “disgruntled employee syndrome.”
For his part, Diddy has denied all of the allegations in the lawsuits.
[The above image from Shutterstock shows L-R Dawn Richard, Sean Combs and Kalenna Harper]