Warning: Disturbing Content
A longer version of the disturbing video showing Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway has been released.
The full 15-minute video includes new camera angles that show Combs, 55, dragging the singer, 38, by her hooded sweatshirt amid the brutal beating.
The original 2016 video released by CNN last May showed Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowered in a fetal position in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.
It has since become the focal point of Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial, as Ventura testifies about allegations of physical and psychological abuse at Combs’ hands.
The viewpoint of the original release was limited, however, and on Tuesday night, the Department of Justice shared a 15-minute unedited version of the incident that has multiple never-before-seen camera angles.
Combs’ trial on Wednesday morning featured several text message conversations between Ventura and Combs to show the relationship context for that incident and the others Ventura alleges.
In one presented text to Combs, Ventura wrote, “You treat me like you’re Ike Turner,” referencing Tina Turner’s infamous abusive relationship with her husband and musical partner. Diddy and Cassie dated on and off for 11 years from 2007-2018.
Ventura testified that she continued to participate in Combs’ “freak-off” orgies in an effort to avoid further physical injury from him. “Whatever was going to make him not be angry at me and threatening me, I was willing to do,” she said. “I just didn’t want to feel scared anymore. It was the one thing he made me feel like I was good at.”
In the longer hotel video submitted as further evidence of this abuse, Combs is seen following Ventura out of a hotel room at the now-defunct InterContinental in Century City as she tries to get on the elevator with her belongings.
Combs drags her to the floor, where he continues to kick her as she lies in the fetal position. He then drags her down the hall by the hood of her sweatshirt, as previously seen, but the longer version shows Combs released her shirt and she was able to stand and walk to the hotel phone to make a call.
From other angles, jurors can see more of Combs’ violent behavior, including him throwing an object and breaking a vase.
Several hotel personnel feature in the longer version, including Israel Florez, the LAPD officer who testified on day one of the trial that Combs had tried to bribe him after he responded to the violent scene.
CNN released the original video just months after Ventura sued Combs for physical and sexual abuse in 2023. Combs settled that lawsuit within a day and denied any wrongdoing, but the video proved that Ventura’s allegations of physical abuse were valid on at least that occasion.
The prosecution in Combs’ case is hoping the video will serve as an example to jurors of how Combs used physical violence to coerce women in his alleged sex trafficking enterprise. Combs’ defense argued that CNN’s video was “distorted,” and several more edits are expected to be shown during trial.
Ventura, who is currently eight months pregnant, is on her second day of testimony in the trial on Wednesday, offering evidence that Combs used her to facilitate parts of the criminal activity, including recruiting and paying sex workers. Her testimony is expected to take at least four days.
The post Diddy Jurors See 15-Minute Version of Cassie Beating Video appeared first on The Daily Beast.
