Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against a man who publicly claimed to have videos depicting the mogul sexually assaulting drunken celebrities and minors .
The lawsuit, filed today in New York, accuses Courtney Burgess, his attorney Ariel Mitchell and Nextstar Media (which operates NewsNation), claiming they made false and defamatory The sexual remarks "were part of a deliberate effort to damage Mr. Coombs' reputation and undermine his business." and painted him as a dissolute pedophile in order to poison public perception of him and deny him the chance of a fair trial. "
"Sean 'Diddy' Combs is taking a stand against malicious lies fabricated and amplified by individuals seeking to benefit him at his expense," said Combs' attorney Erica Wolff. The defendants deliberately fabricated and spread outrageous lies with no regard for the truth. Their lies poisoned public perception and tainted the jury pool. This complaint should serve as a warning that this kind of damage to Mr. Coombs will no longer be tolerated. A deliberate lie about the right to a fair trial.”
Neither Mitchell nor NewsNation responded. typeRequest for comment.
Burgess, a self-proclaimed music industry veteran, has publicly claimed that Kim Porter, the late Kim Porter, the mother of Combs' four children, provided him with illegal tapes of Combs as well as her memoir. The lawsuit says Burgess has never met Combs, and Porter's children and roommates of more than two decades have never heard of Burgess, who was subpoenaed before a grand jury in connection with Combs' death. Testify in the case.
The complaint specifically mentions an October 2024 episode of the "Atwood Unleashed" podcast in which Burgess said Porter approached him through an intermediary and provided him with material, including a photo purportedly showing Justin Bieber kissing an unidentified Photos of men. On the podcast, Burgess described Bieber as a "victim" and elsewhere compared Combs to "Lucifer," further suggesting he engaged in inappropriate behavior with minors. The lawsuit also accuses Burgess of peddling a false Porter memoir on Amazon, which has since been removed from the site after being condemned by Porter's family.
The lawsuit alleges that Mitchell worked with Burgess around September 2024 and gave a television interview with NewsNation that same month. Since last summer, Mitchell has filed several lawsuits on behalf of clients accusing Combs of sexual assault and was most recently featured in Peacock's documentary "Dad: The Making of Bad Boys."
The lawsuit describes Mitchell as an attorney who has filed high-profile lawsuits against artists including Chris Brown and Trey Songz. Combs' rep claims that in an interview with NewsNation, she said "tape tapes have been leaked around Hollywood and resold to individuals in Hollywood" and may have mentioned Burgess or her affiliates, saying "there are Individuals contact me to purchase specific videos they own and contact the people in the video before it becomes public to see if they are interested in purchasing the video. ”
Mitchell said Combs appeared on the "pornographic" tape and that another person in the video was "much more visible than Mr. Combs," adding that the video "exists, is real, and the other person in the video is very obvious". The NewsNation host responded, "It sounds like there may be a lot more hidden cameras," which Mitchell confirmed. During the interview, Mitchell also claimed that she had a police report from another client who claimed Combs assaulted her in 2018, two weeks after she appeared on NewsNation, where Mitchell filed the lawsuit without reporting it, and local police "determined the claims were baseless" and they were involved in the charges.
Combs, who is currently incarcerated awaiting trial in May, is seeking $50 million in damages and further relief.