Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused in a lawsuit on Wednesday of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in 2003, marking the fourth sexual assault allegation lodged against the producer in recent weeks.
The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, alleges that she was flown on a private jet from Michigan to Combs’ recording studio in New York, where she was raped by three people, including Combs and Harve Pierre, the president of Bad Boy Entertainment.
According to the suit, Combs and his associates plied her with “copious amounts” of drugs and alcohol. The suit alleges that Combs raped her over a bathroom sink while she went in and out of consciousness, and that Combs then watched as a third man also raped her.
You’re right, but at the same time publicity can make other victims come forward.
If there’s something that needs to change, it’s the media’s fervent need to tell us what they did and paint people as monsters, but at the same time not really caring when they’re found innocent. There isn’t really a way back to that initial state for anyone involved.
I knew a man personally who was accused by a 7 year old girl and had cases in two states. We live right on the border and his property is actually in both states.
Front page of the local paper (serving an area of 56,000 people) blasted him and posted his picture for everyone to see.
He was step related to the child and cared for many children in the neighborhood. The mom regularly got money from him until he found out she was blowing it on drugs. Fortunately for him, she threatened him with it more than once and after the first time he decided to record all calls with her. He passed a polygraph, details of the story kept changing, and families of the other children he kept went with him to court or wrote letters on his behalf.
He was found innocent in both states by a jury.
He died a few years back. Everywhere he went he was treated like a disease. The newspaper didn’t bother to put his innocence on the front page. They sold their papers.
One of the last times I talked to him he said, “Everywhere I go people whisper. They’ll small talk and smile, and then as soon as I walk away they talk about what a monster I am. Even people who know how it went in court all think, “What if he just got lucky? Don’t let him around your kids.” It’s a lonely life and I can’t wait until it ends.”
I absolutely hate to know that people are victims of such horrible and life altering crimes, but I firmly believe that if there’s evidence to convict someone and they end up convicted, victims will still come forward then.
I feel the same way in other situations. For example, I’d rather see 100,000 murderers free and smiling than see one innocent man sitting in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
Once a person has that label, there’s nothing left for them. For an innocent person, that is a crime if you ask me.