Sean “Diddy” Combs’ apology for the 2016 beating of his ex-girlfriend Cassie is falling shorter among the domestic violence groups — and on the net.
Combs, 54, uploaded the apology to Instagram on Sunday following a online video was produced that appeared to show him beating Cassie, now 37, a singer whose name is Cassandra Ventura.
In his apology, Combs identified as his actions “inexcusable” and stated he was heading as a result of a tough time in his lifetime when the assault occurred. He reported he experienced sought treatment and entered rehab soon afterward, and was working to “be a far better guy.”
The violent video clip matched the description of an incident Ventura thorough in a lawsuit settled in November. Combs had denied Ventura’s allegations. His attorneys stated at the time that the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
As the movie produced its way on line, one particular person wrote in a post on X, “There’s absolutely nothing genuine about that apology video clip Diddy just dropped.” A further extra: “What yall witnessed was manipulation. The first issue he did was middle himself.”
Aubrey O’Day, a former member of the Diddy-established girl group Danity Kane, shared a photo of Combs’ earlier denial in her very own significant article on X. “Diddy did not apologize to Cassie. He apologized to the globe for seeing what he did.”
The footage confirmed Combs chasing a lady down a hotel hallway, pulling her to the ground and beating and kicking her ahead of dragging her by her sweatshirt.
“This is the classic cycle of domestic violence,” Joanna Otero-Cruz, president of the Philadelphia-centered Ladies Versus Abuse domestic violence center, said of the apology. Otero-Cruz, who stated she has worked in the field for at minimum 15 yrs, stated apologies are prevalent in gender violence cases and are often employed to manipulate victims and the community.
“They’re apologizing and they want to make sympathy from other folks, apathy from other individuals, all of all those points,” Otero-Cruz explained. “This is the regular habits of an individual who perpetuates abuse. We’re just observing it in community now.”
The launch of the movie came just 6 months right after Ventura sued Combs, alleging that the tunes mogul experienced sexually and bodily abused her throughout the program of their partnership. Ventura alleged that, from 2007 to 2018, Combs raped her, beat her, trafficked her and managed her life. She filed her lawsuit on Nov. 16, 2023, underneath New York state’s Adult Survivors Act, which presents grownup alleged victims of sexual violence a one particular-12 months window to file civil claims regardless of the statute of restrictions.
He denied the allegations and named them “sickening.” They settled the go well with a day just after it was filed. Combs is facing lawsuits from a few other women of all ages in New York accusing him of sexual assault, sexual trafficking and other criminal exercise. His former producer has also accused him in a lawsuit of sexually harassing, drugging and threatening him. He is also the subject of a federal investigation associated to multiple allegations together with sex trafficking and sexual assault. Combs has earlier denied all of the sexual assault allegations.
The accusations in opposition to Combs have renewed discussions about abuse carried out by impressive adult males and the problems Black girls deal with when in search of to hold their abusers accountable.
Research has demonstrated that Black women of all ages knowledge domestic violence at disproportionate charges compared with other ethnic and racial groups. They are killed by adult males at 3 times the price of white females, for case in point, in accordance to the Women’s Management and Resource Centre at the College of Illinois, Chicago.
“Black gals as a full encounter domestic violence and intimate partner violence bigger than any other ethnicity. Nevertheless, frequently, Black ladies are faced with many biases. They really don’t appear like the great victim,” reported Nel-Sylvia Guzman, deputy director of The Safe and sound Sisters Circle, a center for domestic violence survivors in Washington, D.C.
“For Black women of all ages survivors, they’re battling so numerous pieces of lifestyle, the procedure combating towards them. Which is why many of them really do not come ahead and, if they do, it is so quite a few years later, like Cassie did.”
Meredith Firetog, an legal professional for Ventura, stated in a assertion Sunday that Comb’s apology was “more about himself than the quite a few people he has damage.” She additional: “That he was only compelled to ‘apologize’ after his repeated denials have been confirmed wrong displays his pathetic desperation, and no a single will be swayed by his disingenuous words and phrases.”
Aaron Dyer, Combs’ attorney, did not promptly answer to a ask for for comment.
Along with social media buyers and advocates for domestic abuse victims, Combs’ apology has also prompted criticism from public relations experts who have comprehensive the flaws in it. Daniel Brackins, of the worldwide advertising corporation Interpublic Team, mentioned Combs’ apology seemed to lack empathy, skirted accountability and did not consist of options to “make factors appropriate.”
Valese Jones, founder of the Texas-based Sincerely Nicole Media community relations corporation, shared related sentiments.
“I imagine the online video has performed a lot more hurt than fantastic,” Jones instructed NBC Information. “The apology just does not occur throughout as honest at all. He was apologizing to the common public due to the fact it was about his general public impression. I do not think this apology was good.”
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