CNN obtains 'disturbing' video of Diddy assaulting Cassie in a hotel in 2016

CNN has flagged a video of rapper, producer and business mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs and his then girlfriend Cassie Ventura with a warning owing to its "disturbing content".

The network exclusively obtained a March 2016 surveillance video which shows Combs violently assaulting Ventura during an incident at InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles. CNN says that they "verified the location based on publicly available photos of the former hotel’s interior". The hotel has since closed.

In the video, a shirtless Combs is seen in a white towel draped from the waist down, in the hotel hallway, grabbing, kicking and dragging Ventura, who was had just exited the bedroom and had walked towards the elevators. CNN notes that the footage "matches allegations in a now-settled federal lawsuit filed by Ventura in November".

Combs and Ventura dated between 2007 and 2018, after meeting in 2006 when she was 19 and he was 37.

Describing the footage, CNN states: "Combs, holding a towel around his waist, runs down a hall after Ventura. He grabs her by the back of the neck and throws her to the floor. Still holding his towel closed with one hand, he then turns to kick her, the video shows. As Ventura is on the ground, Combs retrieves a purse and suitcase from the floor near the elevators. He turns around and kicks Ventura again as she lies motionless on the floor. About four seconds transpire between the two kicks, according to the video. He then briefly drags Ventura by her sweatshirt toward a room before walking away.

"Ventura is then seen slowly standing up. She gathers items from the floor and moves to pick up a phone on the hallway wall near the elevators. Combs, still in a towel and socks, returns. A mirror directly across from the security camera shows Combs appearing to shove Ventura," CNN reported.

Ventura had claimed in the lawsuit that Combs had paid the hotel $50,000 for the footage after the attack.

In her suit filed last November, Ventura described an incident similar to the one caught on security footage at the LA hotel.

At the time, Combs' lawyer, Ben Brafman, told CNN in a statement that: “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”

The suit was resolved the following day.

“A decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” Brafman told CNN in a statement at the time. “Mr. Combs‘ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.”

Ventura "declined to comment on the video obtained by CNN," however, her attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor, responded to the network.

“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behaviour of Mr. Combs. Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light,” Wigdor is reported as saying by CNN.

CNN also reported that they reached out to representatives for Combs and InterContinental Hotels for comment.

Combs is tied up in ongoing legal issues and is facing five other civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct and abuse. In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them. Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17. Combs and his attorneys have denied all of the lawsuits’ allegations.

In April, Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles were raided by Homeland Security as part of a sex trafficking investigation. His sons were handcuffed during the raid at their father’s residence in Los Angeles.