Rap mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, right, has returned a ceremonial key to New York City after recently revealed video footage showed him assaulting singer Cassie Ventura, his former girlfriend. Photo courtesy of Mayor Eric Adams/Twitter
June 16 (UPI) — Rap mogul Sean Combs, known by his current stage name “Diddy,” has returned a ceremonial key to New York City after recently revealed video footage showed him assaulting singer Cassie Ventura, his former girlfriend.
The key was returned at the request of Mayor Eric Adams, who had sent two copies of a June 4 letter to Combs’ offices in New York and Los Angeles, obtained by TMZ and other news outlets. It was returned on June 10, a day after Howard University in Washington, D.C., cut ties with him.
The Bad Boy Entertainment founder was awarded the key to the city in September 2023, with Adams posting smiling photos with the cultural icon on social media.
“He might be the ‘bad boy’ of entertainment, but Sean Combs will forever be a New York City kid who made good,” Adams posted at the time. “He’s given so much back to his roots, and every move he makes is proof that hustle pays off. Enjoy your key to the city, Diddy!”
But just months later, Combs had settled a lawsuit with Cassie, who had accused him of rape and physical abuse. The terms of the quick settlement were not announced, but with it, the musicians avoided going through the process of evidence discovery and a trial.
Despite that, CNN surfaced a 2016 surveillance video that shows the rapper wearing only a white towel violently grab, shove, drag and kick Cassie at the InterContinental Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles. Cassie thanked fans for their support after it surfaced.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office has previously said it was aware of the video but that it had not been presented with a case, and if a case was presented, the statute of limitations has already been surpassed and no legal action could be taken.
“The Key to the City of New York is presented to individuals whose service to the public and the common good rises to the highest level of achievement, and who act as a model for fellow and future New Yorkers,” Adams wrote in his letter to Diddy.
“After internal deliberations, the Key to the City of New York committee recommended nullifying and rescinding Mr. Combs’ key. I have accepted their recommendation.”
Combs was born in a public housing project in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon.
Among his contributions that led to him receiving the award was his cofounding of the Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School, which has received poor reviews from parents.
