Sean “Diddy” Combs is as dangerous as he is unserious.
On Dec. 6, 2023, he posted a note to Instagram that said: “Enough is enough.”
He continued, “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. 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.”
Six months later, Combs suddenly wants to sound more forthright and apologetic. On Sunday, the rapper issued an apology on Instagram after CNN published a 2016 video where he is seen knocking singer and ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura to the ground, repeatedly kicking her, dragging her across the floor and throwing a vase at her.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Combs said in a video statement recently posted to Instagram.
“I was fucked up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
He added, “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went, and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
But so many things about the music mogul’s apology make it seem insincere, especially because it served him and no one else.
It is hard not to notice that nowhere in his so-called apology is the name Cassie Ventura. This video is in addition to past claims by the singer that Combs raped her in 2018 and subjected her to multiple forms of abuse over several years.
I also like my apologies to sound like they weren’t encouraged by a newly hired crisis manager. As for the delivery, well, apparently, Combs fancies himself a better actor than his work in “A Raisin in the Sun” proved to be.
When accepting a lifetime achievement recognition at the BET Awards in 2022, he said: “I’mma keep it a hundred with y’all; I was in a dark place for a few years,” Then he acknowledged a few people he said were “really like there for me,” before adding, “And, also, Cassie, for holding me down in the dark times. Love.”
He can taunt her in acceptance speeches before she goes public with his abuse and play victim after she does, but when the video leaves no room for doubt about the fact that he abused her, now he can’t even say her name?
Cassie’s attorney, Meredith Firetog, understandably was unmoved. “Combs’ most recent statement is more about himself than the many people he has hurt,” she said in a statement on Sunday.
Some folks, like singer Kelly Price, seem satisfied with his apology, though.
“It is my sincere prayer that the power of the Holy Ghost overtake you so that you not not only have a change of heart but a change of mind and a change of direction,” she wrote in the comments of that weak-ass apology from Combs.
“I have seen you at your best and at your worst. I know what you are capable of being when you were at your best despite the seductions of this industry,” she added, along with a bunch of other nonsense that was way too sympathetic.
After several people on social media essentially digitally jumped her in the comments, she held a 12-minute Instagram Live to clarify that she was not a “Diddy cheerleader” and that her words were “more of a warning” to “do the soul work.”
Price wasn’t the only one oddly sympathizing with the rapper; others in Combs’ comments said they “forgive him.”
However, none of these people are in a position to forgive him. None of them are his accusers. None of them are Cassie.
Price is the most famous example of the folks in the comments being easily swayed by Combs’ swift invocation of God to swat away accountability and seek full redemption without acts of contrition.
Praise be to those of us blessed to be less gullible.
Perhaps Combs is under the unfortunate assumption that there is some way to salvage his reputation and legacy. He ought to remove that doubt from his mind: His reputation and legacy are on fire. Rightfully so.
Instead of posting insincere apologies, he should stay off social media, hang his head in shame, go back to therapy to learn what real apologies sound like, and wait for the results of those reported federal investigations.