This story discusses allegations of sexual assault and abuse. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.
(NewsNation) — Sean “Diddy” Combs took to social media to apologize for his “inexcusable actions” after a video of him appearing to assault his ex-girlfriend was released, but some are doubting his sincerity.
While several people have come forward with allegations and lawsuits against the music mogul recently, Natania Reuben has been sounding the alarm for Diddy for 25 years after she was shot in the face outside a Manhattan nightclub, an alleged act Combs was never charged for.
‘It has zero value to me’
Reuben shared her story with NewsNation’s Brian Entin, saying Combs’ apology for the video of the alleged assault of Cassie Ventura means nothing to her.
“It has zero value to me. First and foremost, it is the classic scripted publicist apology. ‘I take accountability. I was disgusted. I went to rehab.’ I mean, how many times have we heard this narrative through the annals of time?” Reuben said.
“Secondly, it carries no weight to me because he never apologizes to Cassie directly. It was all about him. ‘I’m disgusted,’ ‘I hit a hard time.’ It was all about him,” she added.
1999 Club New York shooting
Reuben has spent the past 25 years trying to get justice for the night she says Combs shot her in the face at a club. She told NewsNation she doesn’t believe Diddy was properly charged, and she continues to fear for her life.
After the 1999 shooting, Reuben said she faced hatred and backlash from the public, some of whom were saying she was “trying to take down a good Black man.”
“I was raised on cultural pride and racial pride. I believe in that wholeheartedly. But what I was also raised was to speak truth to power,” Reuben said. “I was a victim. I got shot in my face. How am I trying to take down hip-hop? I’m a student of hip-hop.”
She continued, “I am a Black woman. What do I have to gain by doing that? I made two Black men out of my womb. Why would I do that? Why would I set out to destroy someone who, by all accounts, has done amazing things? But now, with hindsight being 20/20, we can look back on those things. And we know they were … at the cost of somebody’s life or safety.”
On Dec. 27, 1999, shots rang out at Club New York in Manhattan. Three people, including Reuben, were struck by gunfire, sending all other clubgoers into a panic, according to a New York Times report. The victims of the shooting were reported as innocent bystanders and didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries, the report said.
But while Combs, his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and rapper Jamal “Shyne” Barrow were all arrested in connection to the shooting, only Barrow was officially charged. Both Combs and Lopez were arrested on possible weapons charges but were ultimately not charged in connection to the shooting.
Reuben previously told NewsNation that she is willing to have doctors remove a piece of a bullet that remains in her face to prove Combs shot her at Club New York in 1999.
“I’m willing to have a doctor remove a part of the 9 mm bullet in my face so that they can use it as evidence if need be for this trial,” Reuben said on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
Reuben has remained adamant since the shooting that it was Combs who shot her in the face. She said she was facing them when they pulled out the guns and saw Combs shoot her in the nose. She filed a $130 million lawsuit for compensation against Combs in 2008 and settled in June 2011.
Diddy investigation
Nearly two months after federal investigators raided two homes belonging to Combs, law enforcement has released few details as to potential charges the music producer could be facing.
Department of Homeland Security agents conducted the raids March 25 at Combs’ multimillion-dollar mansion in Los Angeles and his Miami waterfront home.
The raids came as the producer faces a mounting list of civil lawsuits that allege abuse and sexual assault by multiple victims spanning over 30 years. The music producer has been slapped with five civil suits in the last five months, each containing a multitude of disturbing accusations.
Combs has denied all the allegations.
Diddy seen assaulting Cassie in hotel surveillance video
Singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who had been in a decadelong relationship with Combs in the early 2000s, filed a lawsuit in New York federal court last November alleging sex trafficking, human trafficking, sexual battery, sexual assault and gender-motivated violence, among other causes of action.
Hotel surveillance video from 2016 obtained by the outlet showed Combs violently attacking, kicking and shoving Ventura at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles.
In the video, Combs is seen running in a towel after Ventura, who is seen standing in front of an elevator bank. He aggressively grabs and drags her down and then kicks her before picking up her luggage. He is then seen dragging her on the floor back to a hotel room as she braces her head.
In the video posted Sunday, Combs admitted that he beat Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016 after CNN released video of the attack May 17.
Combs said he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable” in the video posted to Instagram and Facebook.
He did not address any other allegations.