Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of sexual harassment for a fifth time, this time by his male producer

Sean Combs, 54, is facing his fifth lawsuit for sexual harassment in just three months. The rapper and businessman, also known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, was sued for $30 million in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday. The suit was filed by Combs’ producer Rodney Jones Jr., also known as Lil Rod, who accuses the rapper of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to take drugs and solicit sex workers. The case against Combs — the first to be filed by a man — concerns incidents that allegedly took place in the last two years.

The new lawsuit is the fifth to be brought against Combs. On December 16, an anonymous woman accused him of raping her with two other people in 2003, when she was only 17 years old, and he was 34. On November 16, his ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, R&B singer Cassie, sued him for rape and physical abuse. The suit was later withdrawn after an out-of-court settlement was reached. On November 23, a student named Joi Dickerson-Neal accused him of raping her in 1991. And a day later, on November 24, Liza Gardner accused the rapper of raping her and a friend in the early 1990s. Jones is seeking $30 million in damages. Lawyers for Combs, worth an estimated $90 million, have denied the allegations.

Jones — who produced a good part of Combs’ latest album, The Love Album, which was released last September — says that between September 2022 and November 2023 he spent a lot of time with the artist. The two worked and traveled together, and Jones even lived with him for months in his homes in New York, Florida and Los Angeles, recording many hours of audio and video. In his lawsuit, he claims that while they were working on the album, Combs repeatedly groped his “anus and crotch without consent.” According to the 73-page lawsuit, which includes photographs and explicit details, the rapper also encouraged Jones to have sex with another man, explaining that it was “a normal practice in the music industry.”

According to Jones’ version of events, Combs walked around naked in front of him and forced him to work in the bathroom while he showered, in a shower with a transparent screen. He also required him to “solicit sex workers and perform sex acts to the pleasure of Mr. Combs,” who pressured him with violence and bribes. Jones claims that this was how Combs succeeded in controlling him: by offering him sums of money, praising him and promising him access to high-level recording executives. “Mr. Combs consistently made it clear that he has immense power in the music industry and with law enforcement,” the lawsuit states.

In addition to Combs, the lawsuit also cites the record company Universal (which, for the moment, has not responded to the allegations) and some of its top executives, stating that the label failed to properly supervise the musician. Justin Combs, the rapper’s 30-year-old son, and chief of staff, is also cited. Jones claims that when he complained to him about the rapper’s actions, Justin Combs said it was “friendly horseplay.” Jones accuses him of acting as an accomplice “to groom him into accepting a homosexual relationship.”

At a party last year at Combs’ California home for the release of the album — on his Instagram profile there are many photographs and videos of those months of collaboration — Jones was forced (although he does not specify by whom or how) to take shots of tequila and vodka mixed with drugs. He said that he fainted and woke up “at 4 a.m. the following morning naked with a sex worker sleeping next to him.” The lawsuit does not specify whether the sex worker was a man or a woman. Jones also claims that there were sex workers and underage girls at those parties.

According to the lawsuit, Combs encouraged Jones to have sex with him and also forced him to watch a sex video of a well-known producer and DJ having sex with another man. Additionally, in the court documents, Jones claims that Combs introduced him to actor Cuba Gooding Jr. at a party on his boat, who also sexually harassed him. The lawsuit accuses the actor — who is not among the defendants — of “touching, groping, and fondling Mr. Jones’s legs, his upper inner thighs near his groin, the small of his back near his buttocks and his shoulders.”

In addition, Jones claims that the rapper, whom he describes as “forceful and demanding,” did not pay him well for his work on the album. In early February, the producer launched a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe called “Help Me Sue Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs,” which aims to raise $50,000 but has so far raised less than $1,500. The campaign, however, was to reimburse Jones for his work on the album and did not mention the sexual assault allegations. Combs hired Jones to work on his project in August 2022. “Mr. Jones agreed, and his life has been detrimentally impacted ever since,” the lawsuit says.

In a statement issued on Monday, Sean Combs’ lawyer, Shawn Holley, described Jones as “nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 million lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday.” “His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies,” said Holley, adding that they have tried to share that evidence with Jones’ lawyers, but they do not respond to their calls. “We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”

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