By Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times (TNS)
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ children have issued a statement supporting their embattled father, saying that they “stand united” as the music mogul remains behind bars and faces a growing raft of sordid allegations.
Posting the joint statement Tuesday on social media and releasing it through Combs’ legal team, Quincy Brown, Justin, Christian “King,” Chance and twins Jessie and D’Lila Combs said that they have been devastated in the wake of Combs’ Sept. 16 arrest and subsequent federal indictment. Diddy’s seventh child, Love, is only 2 and was not included.
“The past month has devastated our family,” the statement said. “Many have judged both him and us based on accusations, conspiracy theories, and false narratives that have spiraled into absurdity on social media. We stand united, supporting you every step of the way. We hold onto the truth, knowing it will prevail, and nothing will break the strength of our family. WE MISS YOU & LOVE YOU DAD.”
The family made the statement voluntarily and it was entirely their decision to issue it, a close Combs associate who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Times.
The children, four of whom last month blasted an alleged posthumous memoir attributed to their mother, Kim Porter, also appeared in a family photo that included Diddy, his mother Janice, his girlfriend Dana Tran and 2-year-old daughter. Janice Combs has also come to her son’s defense amid his legal troubles.
The Bad Boy Records co-founder, who has also gone by the names Puff Daddy, Puffy and P. Diddy over the years, was indicted Sept. 17 on sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution-related charges. The 54-year-old remains in custody awaiting his May trial date at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, after being denied bail by two judges. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denied multiple claims of abuse outlined in at least 18 civil sexual misconduct lawsuits filed against him since November.
An underlying theme of those lawsuits has been that Combs, who already has a troubled history with abuse allegations, did not act alone and was enabled by a network of people in his formidable empire.
The once-celebrated producer and businessman precipitously fell from grace late last year when a lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura opened the floodgates to a raft of allegations of rape, harassment and other misconduct, including the federal government’s racketeering case.
Combs is also being accused by the federal government of plying plaintiffs with drugs and drug-laced liquor, forcing them into sex acts — known as “freak-offs” — and filming the encounters.
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Some civil suits against Combs have come from people in the music industry who worked closely with him, including former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard and Diddy’s “Love Album” producer Lil Rod. Richard accused her former boss of sexual assault, harassment and inhumane treatment, falsely imprisoning her and forcing her to remain at his various residences, depriving her and her bandmates of basic needs such as adequate food and sleep. Lil Rod alleged in his lawsuit that he was “the victim of constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching” by Combs and felt “uncomfortable with Mr. Combs’ advances.”
Filings from dozens of civil plaintiffs also accuse Combs of assault. One such case, brought by an unnamed person represented by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, alleges that Combs sexually assaulted a woman when she was 13. Another said that a professional athlete stopped the music mogul from continuing to sexually assault a man during a promotional party for his former Ciroc vodka label.
Additional lawsuits that were filed in New York allege, among other things, that Combs’ security detail stood by while he sexually assaulted a college student in 2004 and helped him beat and rape a male fashion adviser at a rival clothing brand in 2008. Another of those suits contends that Diddy molested a 16-year-old boy at a party in 1998. Buzbee has alleged that many of the accusers he spoke with said they were drugged, and that one was a 9-year-old boy who was allegedly sexually abused by Combs and others while he was auditioning at Bad Boy Records in New York City.
In a Monday statement, Combs’ attorneys denied the latest allegations and said that Buzbee’s earlier news conference and the 800 number for alleged victims that he set up ahead of Sunday’s “barrage of filings” were “clear attempts to garner publicity.”
“Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman,” the attorneys said.
Diddy’s lawyers on Sunday asked the judge in his federal case to issue an order requiring accusers, some of whom are potential witnesses in the federal case, and their lawyers “to refrain from making extrajudicial statements that have a substantial likelihood to interfere with Mr. Combs’s trial or otherwise prejudice the due administration of justice.”
(Los Angeles Times staff writers August Brown, Alexandra Del Rosario, Stacy Perman and Richard Winton contributed to this report.)
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