Janice Combs, mother of Sean “Diddy” Combs, has released a statement on behalf of the Combs family amid the ongoing sex crime allegations against the music magnate.
Combs was indicted by federal prosecutors in September on alleged racketeering and sex trafficking charges and denied bail.
According to Billboard, in a statement released Sunday, October 6, through attorney Natalie G. Figgers, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Combs’ mother said Diddy is not guilty of the allegations against him: “My son is not the monster they have painted him to be, and he deserves the chance to tell his side.”
“It is heartbreaking to see my son judged not for the truth, but for a narrative created out of lies,” reads her statement. “To bear witness [to] what seems to be like a public lynching of my son before he has had the opportunity to prove his innocence is a pain too unbearable to put into words. Like every human being, my son deserves to have his day in court, to finally share his side and to prove his innocence.”
Combs was denied bail; if convicted of the charges, he faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life behind bars.
On Sunday, Combs’ mother said, “I am not here to portray my son as perfect because he is not. He has made mistakes in his past, as we all have.”
She referenced the lawsuit Combs settled last year from singer and ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who accused Combs of alleged rape and alleged abuse. Combs denied the allegations, but when video footage surfaced of him appearing to allegedly physically assault her in hotel, issued an apology.
“My son may not have been entirely truthful about certain things, such as denying he has ever gotten violent with an ex-girlfriend when the hotel’s surveillance showed otherwise,” Janice Combs said in her statement. “Sometimes, the truth and a lie become so closely intertwined that it becomes terrifying to admit one part of the story, especially when that truth is outside the norm or too complicated to be believed. This is why I believe my son’s civil legal team opted to settle the ex-girlfriend’s lawsuit instead of contesting it until the end, resulting in a ricochet effect as the federal government used this decision against my son by interpreting it as an admission of guilt.”
She goes on to say that this does not make him guilty of the multiple “repulsive allegations and the grave charges leveled against him.”
“Many individuals who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated had their freedom taken from them not because they were guilty of the crimes they were accused of, but because they didn’t fit the image of what this society considers to be a ‘good person.’ History has shown us how individuals can be wrongfully convicted due to their past actions or mistakes,” she said.
“It is truly agonizing to watch the world turn against my son so quickly and easily over lies and misconceptions, without ever hearing his side or affording him the opportunity to present his side,” she added.
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