Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sued by music producer Rodney Jones Jr., also known as Lil Rod, who accuses him of sexual assault, grooming, and improper payment for his work as a producer on The Love Album: Off the Grid, among other claims. Jones filed the lawsuit in Federal District Court in Manhattan earlier today, reports The New York Times.
In 2022 and 2023, Jones worked on nine songs that would go on to appear on Diddy’s recent album, The Love Album: Off the Grid. According to the graphic 73-page lawsuit, Jones lived with the hip-hop mogul for months at a time while working on the album. Jones accuses Diddy of grabbing his genitals without consent, forcing him to hire prostitutes and participate in sex acts with them, and trying to “groom” him into having sex with another man, with Diddy allegedly telling him that it was “a normal practice in the music industry.” The lawsuit claims that Diddy maintained control over Jones by promising awards, fame, and access to high-level record executives.
Later in the lawsuit, Jones claims that he was forced to drink tequila shots that were laced with drugs while at a listening party at Diddy’s California house in July 2023. After drinking the mixture, the complaint reads, he blacked out and woke up “at 4 a.m. the following morning naked with a sex worker sleeping next to him.”
In addition to Diddy, Jones also lists Universal Music Group and several of the company’s executives as defendants in the lawsuit. He alleges that he was not properly paid for his work as a producer on The Love Album, and as such is seeking remedy for that as well.
Diddy’s attorney Shawn Holley shared a statement with Pitchfork that denies the accusations, saying, “Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 billion 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. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls. We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
When the lawsuit was filed, the court’s system originally stated that Jones was seeking $30 billion as compensation. However, that was an error and his lawyer, Tyrone A. Blackburn, has since said that it would be updated to reflect the correct demand of $30 million, reports The New York Times.
This is the fifth time Combs has been sued for sexual misconduct over the past few months. Most recently, a woman—identified as Jane Doe—filed a lawsuit claiming that Diddy, former Bad Boy Entertainment president Harve Pierre, and an unnamed third person “sex trafficked and gang raped” her in 2003 when she was a 17-year-old high school student. Combs called the allegations “sickening” and denied doing “any of the awful things being alleged.”
Jane Doe is represented by the same law firm that supported Casandra Elizabeth “Cassie” Ventura’s since-settled sexual assault lawsuit against Diddy. In her complaint, it’s stated that “[s]eeing two other women bravely speak out against Mr. Combs and Mr. Pierre, respectively, gave Ms. Doe the confidence to tell her story as well.”
After Cassie’s case was settled, two other women filed lawsuits against the hip-hop musician and mogul. In one lawsuit, Joi Dickerson-Neal says that in 1991 Diddy drugged her, sexually assaulted her, and filmed the assault without her consent. In the other lawsuit, Liza Gardner claims that Diddy and R&B singer Aaron Hall sexually assaulted her and a friend in the early 1990s. A spokesperson for Diddy has said that the women’s active lawsuits contain “fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago.”
In November, Revolt announced that Diddy would temporarily step down as the chairman of the media company, which he co-founded in 2013.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, we encourage you to reach out for support:
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
http://rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)
Crisis Text Line
SMS: Text “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741
