Two days after CNN published video footage showing him striking, kicking and dragging his former girlfriend, Sean Combs posted a video on social media Sunday calling his behavior “inexcusable.”
The footage that surfaced Friday showed Combs, the hip-hop mogul known as Puff Daddy and Diddy, kicking and dragging his former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, in 2016.
Last year Ventura filed and then quickly settled a lawsuit against Combs accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse. The footage shown Friday, which appeared to come from security cameras, was consistent with some of the allegations in her lawsuit, which accused Combs of assaulting her at an InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016 as she tried to leave.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Combs said in his apology video, which he posted to Instagram. “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.”
A lawyer for Combs had previously denied the allegations in Ventura’s lawsuit.
After the hotel footage surfaced, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office released a statement saying that the assault happened too long ago to prosecute.
After Ventura settled her lawsuit, Combs was sued by three women who accused him of rape and a male music producer who accused him of unwanted sexual contact. Combs has vehemently denied the accusations in the lawsuits.
Combs’ legal troubles escalated in March, when federal agents raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach and stopped him at a Miami-area airport, confiscating his electronic devices. Officials have said that the inquiry is at least in part a human trafficking investigation.