in 2014, discontinued a scholarship program named after the rap mogul and returned a $1m donation from him, citing the video which showed him violently attacking singer Cassie Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.
Two years after that, in 2016, Combs revealed he had donated $1m to Howard so that the university could create a scholarship fund for undergraduate business students in need of financial aid, which included internships and mentoring opportunities for his business and entertainment conglomerate, as the local news stationBut that same the year, the music producer and businessman manhandled and kicked Ventura – his girlfriend at the time – in view of surveillance cameras at a hotel in the Century...
Combs – whose other onstage monikers have included Puff Daddy and Love – paid undisclosed terms to settle Ventura’s lawsuit one day after she filed it. But the unusually rapid settlement did not head off at least six more lawsuits which have been filed and accuse him of sexual assaults as well as other instances of physical violence.
The video contradicted Combs’ denials of the allegations from Ventura and his other accusers, and it undermined his pledge to “fight for name”. Within two days, Combs released a, declaring that he was “disgusted” with himself and “truly sorry”, and had no excuses beyond pointing out that those were his “darkest times”.