Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against a man who claims he has videos of Combs allegedly sexually assaulting celebrities and people who appear to be minors.
Last year, Courtney Burgess became a figure in the surrounding chatter surrounding Combs’ arrest for sex trafficking and racketeering. During media appearances on the cable network, NewsNation, Burgess brought up the matter of the videos of Combs’ alleged encounters and, in October, said he testified in front of a grand jury considering additional charges on Combs, The New York Times reported.
Now, Burgess and Nexstar — NewsNation’s parent company — are at the center of Combs’ lawsuit filed Wednesday, in which he claims that Burgess’ interviews on NewsNation may prevent Combs from receiving a fair trial in his upcoming May court date. Combs is seeking damages from Burgess and Nexstar for amplifying the accusations in multiple interviews.
According to Combs’ lawsuit, there are no such videos in Burgess’ possession, furthering that Burgess is “fabricating outlandish claims and stirring up baseless speculation” about Combs, claiming the allegations have caused severe harm to his reputation to the pool of jurors in the federal case against him.
“People who heard and believed the defendants’ lies have accused Combs, on social media that is consumed by hundreds of millions of viewers each and every day, of being a debauched ‘monster’ and a pedophile,” the suit states.
Burgess told The Times in a phone interview, “I’m standing by my word.”
“He had a lot of nerve to want to sue somebody when he’s going to rot in jail for all of the things he’s done,” he said of Combs.
This lawsuit is the first that the disgraced music mogul has filed since a litany of sexual assault lawsuits were filed against him. Combs has repeatedly denied all accusations of sexual assault and abuse. He has pleaded not guilty in the federal sex trafficking case against him.
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