Peloton Pauses Use of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Music Following Video of Him Assaulting Cassie
Written by Rtradio on May 21, 2024
Peloton has announced that they will no longer be using any of Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ music in future classes after a video of the rapper assaulting his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie Ventura, surfaced late last week.
In a post made to their members-only Facebook group, the company shared that after days of requests pouring in from their paid subscribers, they made the decision to have their instructors not use any music from the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer.
“Thank you for sharing your concerns. We take this issue very seriously and can confirm Peloton has paused the use of Sean Combs’ music, as well as removed the Bad Boy Entertainment Artist Series, on our platform,” the company said in their post, according to KTLA.
The statement continued, “This means our Instructors are no longer using his music in any newly produced classes. Again, thank you for sharing your concerns and thank you for being a Member of our Peloton community.”
Back in 2022, Peloton made a similar move when the company paused the use of music by Kanye West after he made antisemitic remarks. According to PeloBuddy, the company later wiped out a majority of classes in the library featuring music by the “Gold Digger” rapper.
At the time, West used his Instagram account to declare his plan to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” A full year after he was dropped from his agency and lost his major Adidas deal, the 46-year-old apologized to members of the Jewish community via an Instagram post written in Hebrew.
Peloton’s declaration pertaining to Combs comes just days after video from an L.A. hotel emerged and showed Combs grabbing, shoving, dragging, and kicking Ventura in clips compiled from multiple angles. The footage was first published by CNN and dated March 5, 2016.
Ventura previously filed a lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend in November alleging Combs began a pattern of control and abuse within a few years of signing her to his Bad Boy Records label. In her explosive 35-page lawsuit, she also made graphic allegations against Combs, including a claim that he raped her in 2018 and that he had punched, beaten, kicked and stomped on her, resulting in bruises, burst lips, black eyes and bleeding.
The two quickly reached a settlement in her lawsuit with Combs “vehemently denying” any wrongdoing.
“Just so we’re clear, a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” said Combs’ attorney, Ben Brafman, in a statement to ET back in November.
Brafman added, “Mr. Combs’ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.”
Over the weekend, the rapper issued an apology on his Instagram in the form of a video, saying: “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that. I was f**ked up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses.”
“My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. 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,” he continued.
The Bad Boy Records founder — who first went public with Ventura in 2012 but split in 2018 — ended his message by saying, “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.”
Ventura’s legal team responded to the video in a statement to ET on Sunday.
“Combs’ most recent statement is more about himself than the many people he has hurt,” Meredith Firetog, partner at Wigdor LLP, said. “When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday. That he was only compelled to ‘apologize’ once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.
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