Diddy Reportedly Sued By Danity Kane’s Dawn Richard For Sexual Abuse
Former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, accusing him of multiple offenses, including groping her on numerous occasions, being physically violent with women, trapping her in a locked car for two hours as punishment, and threatening her life.
According to Rolling Stone, Richard, who was also part of Diddy-Dirty Money with Combs and singer Kalenna Harper, filed the suit on Tuesday in the Southern District of New York. She has also sued former Bad Boy Entertainment CEO Harve Pierre, who is facing two sexual assault lawsuits from his working with Combs.
Richard alleges in her lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone, that from the time she met Combs during an audition for his hit MTV series Making the Band in 2004 until the end of her career with him in 2012, Combs “manipulated her with mantras that submission to his depraved demands was necessary for career advancement, instilling in her the belief that such abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.”
Apparently, the lawsuit details numerous disturbing incidents she witnessed while in Combs’ sphere, including drug-fueled parties where young women appeared “lethargic or passed out” while “Combs and his friends performed sexual acts on them.”
Richard claims she believes Combs invited her to these parties as a “test” before he began entering her changing room to “grope” her “bare buttocks” and “attempt to touch her breasts” between 2009 and 2011. In one incident, Combs allegedly cupped Richard’s breasts to guess her bra size and suggested gifting her “[fake] titties for Christmas” in 2010. She asserts that the more she resisted Combs’ advances, the more he retaliated by denying her singing parts and turning off her microphone during performances.
The report also notes that Richard’s lawsuit supports allegations made by Combs’ ex-girlfriend, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, in her sex trafficking and abuse lawsuit filed in November. Combs settled privately with Ventura the day after the lawsuit was filed. Reportedly, Richard claims she personally witnessed Combs choke and strangle Ventura and saw him throw a scalding hot pan of eggs at Ventura before dragging her up the stairs of his Los Angeles home.
Combs has denied all allegations against him but has since apologized to ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura after a surveillance video obtained by CNN last month showed him physically assaulting her at a hotel in 2016.
Former Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day has also spoken out against Diddy. In a December 2022 episode of “Call Her Daddy,” O’Day alleged that Combs fired her for refusing to comply with his requests outside of music. She also claimed on “Only Stans” in September that she did not agree to terms for the return of music rights due to a nondisclosure agreement that would prevent her from “disparaging” Combs or Bad Boy.
In 2019, Variety reported that O’Day is still recovering from the trauma that followed her run on the MTV Making the Band series. Reflecting on her time on the series during an interview with Variety, O’Day claims she experienced behavior from Diddy that she believes he would “not at all” get away with these days. “Diddy’s a father, so hopefully he’s learned things about the way that you handle women and has more compassion for women now,” she said.
Making the Band was a TV show that looked for new singers to join a music group. It started in 2000 on ABC, created by Lou Pearlman, who put together the group O-Town during the show’s first season. In 2002, Diddy took over the show for MTV, leading to the creation of groups like Danity Kane and Day 26.
