The reaction to Sean “Diddy” Combs settling his multimillion-dollar sexual assault and trafficking suit with Cassie Ventura has ranged from shade thrown by hip-hop legend 50 Cent and Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day to those like rapper Peter Gunz who suggested the settlement indicated the Bad Boy founder was innocent.
Then there’s pop star Kesha, whose 2009 hit song “Tik Tok” featured the lyrics, “Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.” During a performance over the weekend, Kesha changed the lyrics to “Wake up in the morning feeling like me,” an apparent attempt to distance herself from Combs.
50 Cent, however, was blunter.
“He paid that money real quick, should have done that before the sharks saw the blood in the water and here they come in 5,4,3,2,1 every woman he put his hand on,” 50 wrote on X.
Aubrey O’Day, who fronted the Diddy-managed group Danity Kane, doubled down.
“Money > accountability. Every time,” O’Day, 39, wrote via her Instagram Story, sharing a New York Times link to the settlement news.
“Welcome to another chapter of the system that is well in place,” she continued, adding a broken heart emoji at the end.
Ventura accused Combs of subjecting her to a traumatic, yearslong relationship characterized by beatings and rape. The allegations painted a disturbing picture of Combs’ alleged actions and his extravagant and alleged drug-fueled lifestyle.
Ventura, now 37, claimed that Combs initiated the pattern of abuse shortly after their relationship began in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. The lawsuit described Combs as “prone to uncontrollable rage,” alleging that he subjected her to “savage” beatings involving punches, kicks, and stomping.
Ventura also alleged that Combs forced her to have sex with a myriad of male prostitutes and used videos of the encounters as emotional and other forms of blackmail. Moreover, the suit contended that Combs forced her into a Los Angeles home in 2018 and raped her when she tried to end the relationship.
Observers, like Gunz, claimed the settlement indicated Ventura lodged the allegations for monetary gain.
Born Peter Pankey, Gunz said, “You get enough money and shut the f— up. Are you tryna be a voice for others, or are you just gon’ grab this money and shut the f— up?”
Rich Dollaz, who hosted Gunz on his Instagram, offered a challenge to the rapper.
“You’re entitled to your opinion, but I don’t agree. Number one, it was civil,” Dollaz told Gunz. “Civil means money. So, there was never any kind of dispute about what was going on here. This is not a criminal case. He did not take a criminal case and make it civil. She did not start cooperating with the cops and then change up. She was in a civil case from the beginning, which meant she wanted money.”
For her part, Ventura explained her decision in a statement to the New York Times.
“With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life,” Ventura said.
