Diddy's former artists express support for Cassie after rape and abuse allegations

Former Bad Boy artists, including Aubrey O’Day, Dawn Richard and Wanita “D. Woods” Woodgett, showed their support for artist Cassie after her allegations against Diddy.

At least three artists who were signed to Sean "Diddy" Combs' record label have expressed support for their onetime label mate Cassie, who accused the rapper and music mogul of rape and repeated abuse over nearly a decade in a lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday.

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, and Combs had an on-and-off relationship for more than a decade. In the lawsuit, filed in New York, she alleged that he frequently beat her, forced her to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes — acts he referred to as “freak offs” and sometimes recorded — and, on one occasion, as she was trying to end their relationship in 2018, forced his way into her home and raped her.

Ventura and Combs reached a settlement in the lawsuit Friday. In a statement, both parties said the matter was resolved amicably. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Aubrey O’Day, who was discovered by Combs on the reality-TV show “Making the Band 3” and launched to fame as a member of the urban pop group Danity Kane, expressed her “full support of Cassie,” in a statement Thursday.

“It isn’t easy to take on one of the most powerful people in this industry,” she said. “May her voice bring all the others to the table, so we can start having more transparent conversations about what is actually happening behind the scenes.”