Mayor Eric Adams says his administration is considering taking back Sean “Diddy” Combs’ key to the city after horrifying footage surfaced of the rapper brutally assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
“I think all of us were deeply disturbed by watching that chilling video of the young lady being assaulted by him,” Adams told PIX 11 News on Monday. “The committee and the team have never rescinded a key before, but we are now sitting down to see what the next steps forward are going to be.”
Adams said his administration will be “taking everything under analysis” before it comes up with a final determination.
Diddy, 54, who is reportedly under federal investigation in a sex-trafficking case, apologized for his violence against Ventura in an Instagram video Monday, saying his behavior in the 2016 footage was “inexcusable.”
The Harlem native had previously vehemently denied Ventura’s allegations of abuse for eight years — until the shocking video released Friday showed the rap superstar chasing down and hitting Ventura inside a Los Angeles hotel.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said in his mea cupla video on Instagram, in which he did not name Ventura or refer to the singer directly. “I was f–ked up. I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video, I’m disgusted,” he said.
“I was disgusted then when I did it, and I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help, started going to therapy and rehab, had to ask God for his mercy and grace,” the rapper said.
The mayor had awarded Diddy a key to the city last year to honor all he had done for the Big Apple in donating millions of dollars to support black entrepreneurs.
At the time, Adams dubbed him the “embodiment of the New York City attitude.
“A son of Harlem, Combs worked his way to the top, becoming a successful musical talent both in front of and behind the mic,” Adams said at the time.
“Despite all of his successes, Sean has never forgotten where he came from,” Hizzoner added.
Diddy’s Key to the City is a “symbol of the city’s wish that a guest feel free to come and go at will,” the Mayor’s Office said at the time.
The rapper has denied any wrongdoing in the federal sex-trafficking case. He has not been charged with any crime.
No details have emerged in the allegations gainst him, but they prompted a raid by the feds in March of his properties in Miami and Los Angeles.