Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against a man who publicly claimed to have videos depicting the mogul sexually assaulting inebriated celebrities and minors, which his lawyers say could negatively influence his upcoming trial.
The suit, filed today in New York, names Courtney Burgess, his attorney Ariel Mitchell and Nextstar Media (which operates NewsNation), claiming they made false and defamatory statements “as part of a deliberate effort to damage Mr. Combs’s reputation, undermine his business and, by painting him as debauched and a pedophile, to poison the public’s perception of him and deprive him of a fair trial.”
“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is taking a stand against the malicious falsehoods that have been fabricated and amplified by individuals seeking to profit at his expense,” said Erica Wolff, Combs’ attorney, in a statement shared with Variety. “These defendants have willfully fabricated and disseminated outrageous lies with reckless disregard for the truth. Their falsehoods have poisoned public perception and contaminated the jury pool. This complaint should serve as a warning that such intentional falsehoods, which undermine Mr. Combs’s right to a fair trial, will no longer be tolerated.”
Mitchell and NewsNation did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
Burgess, who has described himself as a music industry veteran, has publicly made claims that the late Kim Porter, the mother of four of Combs’ children, gave him illicit tapes of Combs as well as a copy of her memoir. The suit claims that Burgess has never met Combs and that Porter’s children and roommate of over 20 years had never heard of Burgess, who was subpoenaed for grand jury testimony in Combs’ case.
The complaint singles out an Oct. 2024 “Atwood Unleashed” podcast appearance where Burgess said that Porter approached him through an intermediary to provide him with the materials, including a photo that allegedly showed Justin Bieber kissing an unidentified male. On the podcast, Burgess described Bieber as a “victim” and, elsewhere, compared Combs to “Lucifer,” further suggesting that he engaged in misconduct with minors. The suit also alleges that Burgess peddled a false Porter memoir on Amazon, which was removed from the site after it was denounced by Porter’s family.
Mitchell, who the suit claims teamed with Burgess around Sept. 2024, is named alongside NewsNation for a TV interview conducted that same month. Since last summer, Mitchell has filed several lawsuits on behalf of clients accusing Combs of sexual assault and most recently appeared in Peacock’s “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy” documentary.
The suit describes Mitchell as an attorney who has filed high-profile cases against artists including Chris Brown and Trey Songz. Representatives for Combs claim that during her NewsNation interview, she stated that “there already have been tapes leaking around Hollywood, being shopped around to individuals in Hollywood,” and presumably referred to Burgess or an affiliate by stating that “one particular person contacted me to shop a particular video they were in possession of and to contact the person who was in the video to see if they were interested in purchasing the video before it became public knowledge.”
Mitchell said that Combs was in the “pornographic” tape and that another person in it was “more high profile than Mr. Combs,” stating that the video “exists, that it’s real, that the other person in the video is very visible.” The NewsNation host replied that “it sounds like there was probably a lot of hidden cameras as well,” which Mitchell confirmed. During the interview, Mitchell also claimed that she had a police report for another client who claimed Combs assaulted her in 2018. Two weeks after her NewsNation appearance, Mitchell filed suit without the report, and local police “determined the claims were unfounded” that they had been involved in the allegations.
Combs, who is currently incarcerated awaiting his May trial, is seeking $50 million in damages and further relief.
