Diddy (R) and his mother, Janice Combs attend the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. Photo: Jason Kempin
The mother of Sean 'Diddy' Combs says her son is not a "monster" and has likened the rapper's public downfall to a "public lynching".
The music producer is currently in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution after he was arrested on Septmber 16.
He has pleaded not guilty. His defence lawyers tried to have him released on a US$50 million bond, but prosecutors told the judge that Combs was "extremely dangerous to the community" and he was denied bail. His next court date is set for Thursday (local time).
Last week, lawyer Tony Buzbee told media he was representing more than 120 accusers - both men and women - who say they have sexual abuse claims against Combs and his associates. Buzbee said 25 of the accusers were minors at the time of the alleged abuse - including a nine-year-old boy who claims he was forced to perform oral sex on Combs after auditioning for the iconic record label.
In a statement shared via her lawyer to social media on Sunday night in the US, Janice Small Combs said: "I come to you today as a mother that is devastated and profoundly saddened by the allegations made against my son, Sean Combs".
"It is heartbreaking to see my son judged not for the truth, but for a narrative created out of lies," the 83-year-old wrote. "To bear witness what seems like a public lynching of my son before he's had the opportunity to prove his innocence is a pain too unbearable to put into words."
Janice Combs also referred to a hotel surveillance video from 2016 that showed Combs appearing to grab, shove and kick his girlfriend at the time, Cassie Ventura, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway.
"My son may not have been entirely truthful about certain things, such as denying he has ever gotten violent with an ex-girlfriend when the hotel's surveillance showed otherwise," she wrote in her statement. "Sometimes, the truth and a lie become so closely intertwined that it becomes terrifying to admit one part of the story, especially when that truth is outside the norm or is too complicated to be believed."
According to the 14-page federal criminal indictment of Combs, the rapper was responsible for coordinating days-long sexual parties - know to the people involved in them as "freak offs".
In several months, a jury in Manhattan will have to decide which side of what happened at the "freak off" parties is more credible. In the federal criminal indictment papers, authorities allege that from at least 2008 some associates and employees of the 'Combs Enterprise', of which Diddy was said to be a leader, would facilitate "freak offs" and stock hotel rooms in advance with drugs, baby oil, lubricant, extra linen, and lighting, as well as clean the hotel rooms after to try and "mitigate room damage".
Combs' legal counsel has insisted the "freak off" gatherings were "a lifestyle not a crime" and their activities were consensual. During raids of his Miami and LA mansions in March, authorities found 1000 bottles of lubricant and baby oil, AR-15s and drugs.
"Watching the world make jokes and laugh at my son's life crumbling before our eyes is something I can never forget," Janice Combs wrote.
"It is truly agonizing to watch the world turn against my son so quickly and easily over lies and misconceptions, without ever hearing his side or affording him the opportunity to present his side. These lies thrown at him are motivated by those seeking a financial gain, and not justice.
"....My son is not the monster they have painted him to be, and he deserves the chance to tell his side, I can only pray that I am alive to see him speak his truth and be vindicated."
