Two anonymous plaintiffs sued Sean “Diddy” Combs on Monday, alleging the embattled music producer had sexually assaulted them when they were children. One John Doe says Combs drugged and raped him when he was just 10 years old. The alleged incident occurred at a New York City hotel in 2005; the lawsuit says Combs assaulted the boy — an aspiring rapper — during a purported audition. In a separate suit, another plaintiff says Combs sexually assaulted him in 2008 when he was 17 and auditioning for the MTV reality show Making the Band. The complaint says Combs groped and raped the teen during a three-day audition.
The two John Does are represented by Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who set up a hotline number to solicit clients and who has filed several new lawsuits against Combs this month alone. More than 20 people have brought allegations of sexual violence against Combs since his former partner, the singer Cassie, sued him in November 2023, accusing him of rape and physical abuse. (Combs denied her claims, and the two reached a settlement within a day.) In September, the rapper was charged with racketeering and sex trafficking; he pleaded not guilty and is currently being held without bail until trial, which is set to start next May.
Combs has denied all allegations against him. “The lawyer behind this lawsuit is interested in media attention rather than the truth, as is obvious from his constant press appearances and 1-800 number. As we’ve said before, Mr. Combs cannot respond to every new publicity stunt, even in response to claims that are facially ridiculous or demonstrably false,” his lawyers said in a statement. “Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone — man or woman, adult or minor.”
The first lawsuit alleges Doe was a 10-year-old aspiring rapper and actor who, in 2005, traveled with his family from Los Angeles to New York City to meet with music-industry executives in hopes of advancing his career. Among them was Combs, who said he wanted to meet the child first before meeting the family, according to the complaint. Doe alleges a consultant hired by his parents brought him to a meeting with Combs and other people in a Manhattan hotel room and then left him alone with them. Doe says he performed several rap songs for Combs, who responded that he could make the boy “a star,” according to the suit. “Combs asked Plaintiff how badly he wanted to be a star, and what Plaintiff would do to get to be one,” the complaint reads. “Plaintiff responded, as might any ten-year-old child, that he would ‘do anything.’”
The complaint says one of the other people present in the room gave the child a soda, which Doe now believes was laced with drugs. After drinking it, Doe says he began to feel “a little funny.” Doe alleges that Combs made him get closer, pushed him down, and then forced the boy to give him oral sex. The lawsuit claims Doe lost consciousness and later woke up with his pants undone. He alleges he felt pain in his anus and buttocks. The lawsuit says Combs was still present in the room, and after Doe cried that he wanted to return to his family, “Combs replied that if Plaintiff told anyone about what had happened, he would hurt Plaintiff’s mom and dad badly.” According to the complaint, Doe told his parents about the assault after they noticed something was wrong, but they didn’t report the incident because they “were terrified of the potential consequences.” Doe says he has experienced severe depression and anxiety as a result of the assault.
The second lawsuit says another John Doe was 17 when he auditioned for Making the Band. Doe says he advanced to a three-day-long audition round that required contestants to meet one-on-one in private with Combs and his bodyguard. During the first day, according to the complaint, Combs asked the teen about how he would handle “situations involving sexual pressure.” Doe says that as Combs described several scenarios, the rapper groped him, fondled him, and instructed him to undress. The lawsuit says Combs then masturbated himself, emphasizing his power “to control Plaintiff’s future in the music industry, stating that he had the ability to ‘make or break’” Doe’s career.
Doe alleges that Combs sexually assaulted him on the second day of the audition, forcing him to perform oral sex on him and raping him. On the third day, the suit claims, Combs told the teen he would test his “willingness to do anything necessary to succeed in the music industry,” introducing him to his bodyguard, “T.” Doe says “T” forced him to give oral sex, and during the assault, Combs groped and fondled him again. The lawsuit claims Doe was ultimately eliminated from the competition because “Combs claimed that Plaintiff was untrustworthy due to his reservations about performing oral sex on his bodyguard.”
Three other plaintiffs previously claimed Combs had sexually abused them when they were minors: a Jane Doe who says the rapper and two other men gang-raped her at his recording studio in Manhattan when she was 17, a John Doe who alleges he was 16 when Diddy sexually assaulted him at one of his “White Parties” in the Hamptoms, and another Jane Doe who claims the producer raped her at a VMAs after-party when she was only 13.