Joe Budden condemns Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for “insincere” apology
In the hip-hop world, Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs has been at the forefront of conversation throughout the year following severe accusations of sexual assault were made against him, which he has profusely denied. However, in recent days, Combs issued an apology following footage emerging of him assaulting his ex-partner Cassie Ventura in a hotel in 2016.
The CCTV footage shows a man in a towel running through the hallways of a hotel. When he comes across a woman, he punches her, throws her to the floor, and repeatedly kicks her while on the floor. CNN, who first released the footage, claimed the persons shown were Combs and Ventura, which the rapper later admitted was him.
Combs made the admission in a video apology, in which he states: “I was disgusted when I did it. I’m disgusted now.” In the video, the rapper describes the period as “the darkest times” in his life.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” he continued. “I was f—ed up. I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behaviour on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” Combs added.
Now, speaking on the eponymous The Joe Budden Podcast, Joe Budden said of the attack which has sent shockwaves across the world: “That shit was disgusting, what we all had to witness. That shit was almost unbearable to watch. I’m certain that that was triggering for a lot of people that saw it […] I assumed that he would go and just hide somewhere, but why would you do that when you are just a glutton for attention?”
He also took umbrage with the apology, stating, “So he pops right back out — talk about tone deaf, talk about inability to read a room. Where are the fucking publicists? Where is anybody in this moment? But he pops back out with this half-hearted, bullshit apology that was like almost offensive, almost like a slap in the face, that apology.”
Budden continued: “He didn’t even try to put some sincerity into this thing. That CNN/Puff story broke as we were recording, and while we did touch on it, when I listen back, I didn’t feel like enough time was devoted to just how much of a fucking lunatic that n-gga looked like and what that means industry wise, for all parties involved.”
The hip-hop figure also believes this isn’t the end of the story, and also thinks this story of abuse in hip-hop transcends Diddy, noting, “I don’t think this is the last of it, nor do I think he’s the only one. So at any point, [if] we want to start having some uncomfortable conversations, not only am I down for it but I’m down to initiate it, because this shit is a mess and he looks like a fucking nut — he looks like a complete evil piece of shit.”
Meanwhile, Combs continues to deny the allegations that first came to light in 2023, and states this was an isolated event. He has also recently been accused of sexually assaulting and drugging a model in 2003, but has yet to comment on the new case.