Sean "Diddy" Combs sued again for sexual assault over 2022/23 incidents
Rapper and mogul Sean Combs faces another lawsuit for assault and harassment from producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones
Sean “Diddy” Combs faces yet another lawsuit for sexual assault, this time from producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who produced nine tracks for Combs’ 2023 record The Love Album: Off The Grid. According to Rolling Stone, Jones’ 70-page legal filing alleges assault, harassment, grooming, intimidation, and threats of violence. Perhaps most damning, over the months Jones reportedly spent in Combs’ employ, “Mr. Combs required Mr. Jones to record him constantly … As a result, Mr. Jones has secured hundreds of hours of footage and audio records of Mr. Combs, his staff, and his guests engaging in serious illegal activity,” the suit reads. While previous lawsuits were filed under the New York’s Adult Survivors Act or the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act, which extended the statute of limitations, this is the first legal case against Combs regarding incidents in the immediate past, beginning after Jones was hired in August 2022.
Jones claims in the lawsuit that Combs repeatedly groped his “anus and crotch without consent” and tried to “groom him into accepting a homosexual relationship,” telling him this was “a normal practice in the music industry.” Combs would allegedly “force” Jones to recruit sex workers to bring back to Combs’ residence (something the mogul’s ex, Cassie, also claimed to experience in her lawsuit). On one occasion, Jones says Combs drugged him, after which Jones woke up “naked, dizzy, and confused” in a bed with “two sex workers and Mr. Combs.”
Earlier this month, Jones posted that he was “currently quietly fighting for my publishing for months.” The suit states that Jones sought $50,000 as well as publishing and royalty rights for his work on The Love Album, but Combs only offered him $29,000 for 13 months of work. According to the suit, Jones remained under these abusive conditions because Combs would alternately promise money and awards and threaten him with violence. Jones alleged that Combs “informed Mr. Jones that he is willing to kill his mother, Janice Combs, if he must in order to get what he wants, so he wouldn’t think twice to harm Mr. Jones.”
A representative for Combs told Rolling Stone that Jones is a “liar” who is “shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday.” In a statement, his rep said, “His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines.” Combs settled the suit with Cassie out of court, but he still faces several other lawsuits that allege instances of rape, harassment, and physical assault. In response to a recent allegation that Combs participated in a “gang rape” in 2003, Combs’ legal team called the suit “unconstitutional” due to the time that had elapsed and the available evidence. “He never participated in, witnessed, or was or is presently aware of any misconduct, sexual or otherwise, relating to plaintiff in any circumstance whatsoever,” his team stated in their response filing (via Billboard).
Combs posted a statement about the multiple allegations directly to Instagram in December. “Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday,” he wrote. “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”