JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Final month, hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused of years of abuse by his ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, higher generally known as the singer Cassie. In a civil swimsuit submitting, Ventura alleged that Combs spent years emotionally and bodily abusing her, subjecting her to human trafficking, coercion, even raping her. Diddy publicly denied all allegations, and he shortly settled out of court docket. However since then, extra girls have come ahead with related allegations in opposition to Combs. NPR music correspondent Sidney Madden has been following all of this. Hello there.

SIDNEY MADDEN, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.

SUMMERS: So to begin with, let’s simply rewind and return to when these allegations first broke. I imply, they actually shocked folks, proper?

MADDEN: Yeah. This was massive breaking information for a couple of key causes inside and out of doors the hip-hop world. To begin with, it has to do with the severity of the costs. The swimsuit that Cassie filed in opposition to him was over 30 pages lengthy, alleging a long time of abuse – very detailed. Then it has to do with the extent of Diddy’s stature in hip-hop and simply the music world usually. He is at all times been seen as a logo of relentless hustle, somebody who has a serious enterprise acumen within the business – an business chief, you’ll say. After which Cassie is one among his longest-running public relationships and one among his artists on Unhealthy Boy Leisure. So to listen to about this darkish underbelly of their relationship actually shocked a whole lot of informal followers who’ve seen them on the purple carpet for years.

SUMMERS: Proper. And as we talked about, this can be a story that didn’t finish with Cassie. Extra girls have filed civil fits in opposition to Diddy, and I will be aware right here that the main points there are disturbing and graphic.

MADDEN: Yeah, completely. So far, there have been 4 fits filed in opposition to Diddy, relationship again to the very starting of his profession within the report business within the early ’90s. A few of the victims who filed are alleging that they have been drugged and coerced into having intercourse, that they have been videotaped – a whole lot of actually terrible, graphic allegations. And all of those filings thus far have occurred in New York, most of them below the Grownup Survivors Act, which is a invoice that was handed to permit victims to have a one-year lookback window to have the ability to file a civil case in opposition to their abuser, whatever the statute of limitations.

SUMMERS: And, Sidney, there have been different high-profile instances in opposition to music megastars lately. R. Kelly notably involves thoughts right here. However this example – what makes it completely different?

MADDEN: To begin with, thus far, all of those instances are civil, not legal, so Diddy just isn’t dealing with any jail time. However extra implicitly, a whole lot of the younger girls who accused R. Kelly over time have been a whole lot of underage Black women who weren’t well-known, versus Cassie, who – she’s not solely well-known. She’s famously been his accomplice for years. And I believe it additionally has to do with the character of Sean “Diddy” Combs usually. Diddy has additionally had a observe report of being abusive and violent in the direction of males. He is fought together with his sons’ coaches earlier than. He is fought rappers like Drake earlier than and different music executives. There have even been viral movies of him busting up his personal workplace. So it is not very far-fetched for folks to imagine that he could possibly be abusive to girls in his life.

SUMMERS: I need to simply step again right here and take a look at this massive image. What do you assume this second means for the hip-hop business?

MADDEN: I believe it is nonetheless early to inform if that is going to be a total cultural reckoning in hip-hop, however we positively live by way of a historic second. As for repercussions, Diddy thus far has quickly stepped down because the chairman of Revolt, which is his media firm. Loads of girls and survivor advocates teams have launched statements and petitions calling on the Grammys to rescind his 2024 nomination and his invite to the ceremony. And Rolling Stone reported that 18 of the businesses that have been beforehand working with him on his e-commerce web site, known as Empower World, that they’ve severed enterprise fully. So this positively is an important second for these in his interior and outer circles deciding on their stage of proximity and attachment to him going ahead.

SUMMERS: NPR music correspondent Sidney Madden. Thanks.

MADDEN: Thanks.

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