Reading the American press, one wonders how Sean Combs, the global rap star with evolving stage names (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy or Diddy), could be adored for 30 years while leaving in his wake accusations of rape, sexual assault, sex trafficking, kidnapping, corruption, kidnapping, assault, death threats, forced prostitution and racketeering. And more, probably.
Combs, 54, denies all the allegations. But on September 16, a federal judge in New York placed him in pre-trial detention – despite a proposed bail of $50 million – so that he could not put pressure on his accusers. It's true that his status as a producer and then as a phenomenally successful singer were profitable assets.
A dozen complaints have been filed to date, and the figure could rise quickly, according to a New York lawyer who said he represents no fewer than 120 other victims, including 25 who were underage at the time of the events. The cascade was started by R&B singer Cassie (Casandra Ventura), Combs' partner for 11 years, starting in 2007. She was the first, in November 2023, to sue him. Combs managed, in just one day, to reach a financial agreement with his ex, but the singer's notoriety and leaks to the media had a major impact. This triggered other lawsuits and snowballed.
A hold over his partner
Cassie described her daily ordeal with Combs. He drugged her, she said, raped her, beat her, forced her to have sex with prostitutes and filmed their sexual activities. A video recorded in 2016 by a security camera in a Los Angeles hotel and leaked in May by CNN lends credence to her testimony: The rapper punches Cassie in the face, she collapses, he kicks her, drags her across the floor and throws a vase at her face.
These images and all the complaints reveal a repeated pattern: Combs seduced and drugged his victims, then made them take part in endless collective orgies. Beyond the triptych "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll," often presented as romantic, the rapper would dangle the promise of a career in music in the same way that Harvey Weinstein did in cinema. The musician's pre-trial detention shows that things are changing, and only time will tell if his fall is definitive.
Writing in the New York Times on September 23, journalist Ben Sisario rightly wonders whether the Combs case heralds a #MeToo in music (glossing over the specificity of rap, as if to avoid stigmatizing this genre). Despite a few cases – such as the 2023 conviction of R&B star R. Kelly (upheld on appeal in April) to over 30 years in prison for child sex crimes, sex trafficking and racketeering – there has been no great outpouring in the music industry. And yet, as this expert highlights, according to a 2018 survey of more than 1,200 musicians in the United States, 72% of the women questioned claimed to have been discriminated against because of their gender and 67% sexually harassed.
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