John Legend and Sean “Diddy” Combs
Theo Wargo/Getty; Mike Coppola/Getty
John Legend is speaking out about the sexual assault and abuse allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs, with whom he collaborated on a song last year.
In an interview with CNN, the “All of Me” singer said he was “horrified” by some of the allegations that had surfaced about Combs even before the outlet published a video showing the music producer assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
“I was horrified by the accounts I read before the video evidence came out,” Legend said of the allegations against Combs by Ventura and several other women, “and this is definitely something that needs to come to light when it happens.”
In a video obtained by CNN, a woman appears as Ventura heads to an elevator, and the music producer is seen running from the hotel room in a towel before Combs grabs the woman by the back of the neck, throws her to the floor and kicks her repeatedly while she remains motionless.
“My basic stance is that I believe women when they make these allegations and I do everything I can to support them. [making them]”We hope that their voices will be heard and that there will be some kind of accountability and reparations so that these women can get their lives back together,” Legend added.
He told the outlet that the behavior Combs is accused of is “shameful” and that he wants “the best” for Ventura and “all the other victims who say they were abused by him.” He concluded, “I'm very disappointed. I just want accountability and hopefully healing for all the victims.”
Legend and Babyface collaborated on Combs' song “Kim Porter,” named after the music producer's former partner, Kim Porter, with whom he has three children, who died of pneumonia in 2018. The song appears on Combs' 2023 album, The Love Album: Off the Grid.
Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against Combs in November, alleging that she was repeatedly raped and physically abused during an on-and-off relationship for nearly a decade. “Mr. Combs trapped me in a cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking,” she said in the lawsuit.
The two sides settled shortly thereafter, but Combs' lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said at the time that the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
Since then, Combs has faced multiple lawsuits alleging rape, sexual assault and sex trafficking – all charges he denies.