Guilty pleasures

By NewsPress Now

Six people accuse Diddy of sexual assault in new lawsuits

NEW YORK | A new wave of lawsuits filed Monday accuses Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping women, sexually assaulting men and molesting a 16-year-old boy.

At least six lawsuits were filed against the hip-hop mogul in federal court in Manhattan. They were filed anonymously, two by women identified as Jane Does and four by men identified as John Does.

The accusers are part of what their lawyers say is a group of more than 100 alleged victims who are in the process of taking legal action against Combs in the wake of his sex trafficking arrest last month.

One of the John Does, a man living in North Carolina, alleges that Combs fondled his genitals when he was 16 at one of the rapper’s famous white parties in Long Island’s Hamptons in 1998.

The man alleges that during a conversation about possibly breaking into the music industry, Combs abruptly ordered the then-teen to drop his pants.

According to the man’s lawsuit, Combs explained to him that it was a rite of passage to becoming a music star, at one point asking him: “Don’t you want to break into the business?”

The man said he complied out of fear, anxiety and power imbalance he felt with Combs, only realizing later that what had happened was sexual assault.

Until Monday’s lawsuit, Combs had only been accused in civil cases and his criminal indictment of sexual activity with adults.

Combs’ lawyers and other representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. When the planned lawsuits were announced Oct. 1, a lawyer said Combs “cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus.”

Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges alleging he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

Combs’ lawyers have been trying unsuccessfully to get the Bad Boy Records founder freed on bail. He has been held at a Brooklyn federal jail since his Sept. 16 arrest.

Two judges have concluded that Combs would be a danger to the community if he is released from the Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility that has been plagued by violence and dysfunction for years. At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a proposed $50 million bail package, including home detention and electronic monitoring, after concluding Combs might tamper with witnesses and obstruct a continuing investigation.

On Friday, an appeals court judge denied Combs’ immediate release from jail while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals weighs his bail request.

Other lawsuits filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan include allegations of rape, forced oral sex and drugging to incapacitate victims.

One of the Jane Does suing Combs alleges he raped her in a locked hotel room in 2004 after he invited her and a friend there for a party, gave them drinks and told them to snort cocaine.

The woman, then a college freshman, alleges Combs also forced her friend to perform oral sex on him and said he would have them both killed if they didn’t comply with his demands.

The other Jane Doe alleges Combs violently attacked and raped her in a bathroom in 2005 at a party for the late rapper Biggie Smalls’ music video, “One More Chance.”

According to the woman, Combs brought her into the bathroom to talk privately and then started kissing her unexpectedly. When she tried to pull away, she alleges, he slammed her head against the wall, causing her to fall to the floor. The woman said she tried to escape, but Combs hit her again and raped her.

Afterward, according to the woman, Combs nonchalantly adjusted his clothing and told her: “You better not tell anyone about this, or you will disappear.”

In another John Doe lawsuit, a man working as a security guard at Combs’ Hamptons white party in 2006 alleges the star gave him an alcoholic beverage he came to believe was laced with a drug that made him feel extremely ill. The man alleges Combs then pushed him into a van, held him down and sexually assaulted him.

In the other lawsuits filed Monday, Combs is accused of forcing a man to perform oral sex on him in the stockroom of Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan’s Herald Square in 2008 and sexually assaulting a man at a party in October 2021. The latter man, who suspects a drugged beverage left him unable to fight back, recalls multiple men assaulting him and distinctly recalls seeing Combs above him, naked, at one point during the assault, his lawsuit said.

Excerpts from Navalny’s memoir show he knew he would die in prison

Excerpts of a memoir written by late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny revealed he believed he would die in prison.

The New Yorker magazine published the excerpts Friday in anticipation of the release of “Patriot” on Oct. 22.

Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. He died in a remote Arctic prison in February while serving a 19-year sentence on several charges, including running an extremist group, which he said were politically motivated.

He was jailed after returning in 2021 from Germany where he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, and was given three prison terms since. Russian officials have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.

“Patriot” was announced in April by publisher Alfred A. Knopf who called it the late politician’s “final letter to the world.”

According to Knopf, Navalny began working on the book while recovering from the poisoning and continued writing it in Russia, both in and out of prison.

In detailing his coping strategies while imprisoned, Navalny said he would “imagine, as realistically as possible, the worst thing that could happen. And then (…) accept it.”

For him, this was dying in prison.

“I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here,” he wrote on March 22, 2022.

“There will not be anybody to say goodbye to … All anniversaries will be celebrated without me. I’ll never see my grandchildren.”

Although he had accepted this fate, Navalny’s memoir conveys a resolute stance against official corruption in Russia.

“My approach to the situation is certainly not one of contemplative passivity. I am trying to do everything I can from here to put an end to authoritarianism (or, more modestly, to contribute to ending it),” he wrote, also on March 22, 2022.

In a published excerpt, dated January 17, 2024, a month before his death, Navalny answers the question posed by his fellow inmates and prison guards: “Why did you come back?”

“I don’t want to give up my country or betray it. If your convictions mean something, you must be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices if necessary,” he wrote.

As well as capturing the isolation and challenges of his imprisonment, Navalny’s writing is notable also for its humor. The late dissident recounts a bet with his lawyers over the length of a new prison sentence: “Olga reckoned eleven to fifteen years. Vadim surprised everyone with his prediction of precisely twelve years and six months. I guessed seven to eight years and was the winner.”

He also marveled at the absurdity of being made to sit for “hours on a wooden bench under a portrait of Putin” as a “disciplinary activity.”

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in a statement released in April by the publisher the book was not only a testament “to Alexei’s life, but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship,” adding that sharing his story would” inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter.”

She also said the memoir was already translated into 11 languages and would “definitely” be published in Russian.

MLB playoffs averaging 3.33 million viewers through division series

NEW YORK | Major League Baseball’s postseason is averaging 3.33 million viewers going into the league championship series, an 18% increase over last year’s average of 2.82 million.

The division series averaged 3.56 million viewers for 18 games, a 14% increase from last year.

The increases in the division round ratings can be attributed to two series going the distance along with both New York teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies being involved.

Friday’s night NLDS Game 5 between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres averaged 7.5 million on Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming, the most-watched division series game since 2017.

Saturday afternoon’s deciding game between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers averaged 3.42 million on TBS, the most-watched division series matchup in a day game window (pre-4 p.m. start) in 17 years.

The game was originally slated to be played at night, but was moved up to the afternoon due to the threat of inclement weather.

Fox and FS1 averaged 4.09 million for the National League games, their highest numbers since postseason baseball began airing on FS1 in 2014. Fox also benefitted from the Phillies-Mets being the other series. The Mets advanced in four games.

TNT Sports averaged 3 million for the ALDS series games on TBS and TNT. The Yankees beat Kansas City in four games in the other series.

—From AP reports