A new lawsuit was filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs on Monday alleging that he terrorized one of his music producers on his latest record over the course of more than a year. The federal suit claims that, as the pair worked on 2023’s Grammy-nominated The Love Album: Off the Grid, Combs groped, harassed, and threatened the producer, pushed him to consume drugs and “consort with” sex workers, and refused to compensate him properly when the album was finished.
The lawsuit is the sixth such action filed against Combs, 54, in recent months, and the first to name a male plaintiff. The producer, Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, claims that his life “has been detrimentally impacted ever since” 2022, when he agreed to help Combs cut his new record.
Between September 2022 and November 2023, Jones was allegedly subjected to “constant” sexual harassment by Combs, who would walk around naked in front of Jones and touch his anus and genitals. When Jones, “a heterosexual Christian man,” complained to Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, she allegedly responded, “You know, Sean will be Sean.”
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“Mr. Jones believes that Mr. Combs was grooming him to pass him off to his friends,” the complaint says, including the actor Cuba Gooding Jr. (who is not named as a party to the suit).
Jones also claims that he was dispatched by Combs to “recruit” sex workers and bring them back to the rapper’s homes, and that Combs would use “his power and influence, to intimidate and force Mr. Jones into soliciting and sleeping with these women.” In one alleged instance, Jones recalls waking up “naked, dizzy, and confused” next to two sex workers and Combs, who he believes had drugged him.
To “maintain dominion and control” over Jones, Combs would dangle promises of Grammys, money, and access to label executives in front of him, the complaint claims. But the mogul could just as easily “switch up his approach,” it states, and threaten Jones physically.
“Mr. Combs threatened to eat Mr. [Jones’] face and informed Mr. Jones that he is willing to kill his mother, Janice Combs, if he must in order to get what he wants,” it explains, “so he wouldn’t think twice to harm Mr. Jones.”
After 13 months of working and living with Combs, Jones had helped produce nine tracks on The Love Album. But, the complaint alleges, Combs only offered him $29,000 for “thousands of hours of work.”
Jones alleges that he has “hundreds of hours of footage and audio records of Mr. Combs, his staff, and his guests engaging in serious illegal activity.” Several screenshots of the alleged activity are included in the complaint.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, a lawyer for Combs denounced Jones. “Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar… shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday,” Shawn Holley said. “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.”
She added that Combs’ team had “overwhelming indisputable proof” that would flatten Jones’ claims. “We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them,” Holley added.
Jones’ lawsuit also names as defendants various members of Combs’ inner circle, including Khorram, as well as Universal Music Group, Motown Records, and a number of executives associated with the labels. A representative for Universal Music Group did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday night.
The producer is seeking $30 million in damages. Earlier this month, he started a GoFundMe campaign asking donors to help him sue Combs. “I find myself fighting for my producer’s rates (money), publishing shares, and royalties for works done on this project,” Jones said, accusing Combs of slow-walking the legal process in an attempt to empty his coffers. As of Monday night, the campaign had raised a little less than $1,500 of a stated $50,000 goal.
The founder of Bad Boy Entertainment and a three-time Grammy winner, Combs was first accused of sexual assault in late 2023 by a former girlfriend, the singer Cassie Ventura, who said he controlled, coerced, and raped her repeatedly over their decade-long relationship. Ventura and Combs privately settled the next day, but more lawsuits were filed against the hip-hop impresario by new claimants in quick succession.
Combs broke his silence on the mounting allegations after the fifth case was filed against him in early December, alleging that he and others trafficked and gang-raped a 17-year-old girl in 2003.
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” he said in a statement shared to his X account. “For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy.
“Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” he added. “I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
