Note: This article contains references to alleged sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a lawsuit from a woman who claims that he and others allegedly gang-raped her in California in 2018. The woman, Ashley Parham, filed the suit on Tuesday, October 15, in a California federal court.
According to the complaint, obtained by Pitchfork, Parham claims her first interaction with Diddy occurred in February 2018 through a man named Shane Pearce. Pearce attempted to impress Parham by showing he was friends with Diddy via a FaceTime call. Parham was reportedly impassive “because she believed Defendant Diddy [allegedly] had something to do with the [alleged] murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.” Diddy heard her comment and allegedly remarked that she “would ‘pay’ for her statement regarding Tupac and overall dismissal of Defendant Diddy.”
Parham recalls spending time with Pearce again in March 2018 after he “invited [her] over to his home to assist him with his cancer medications because he stated he was weak and unable to open his medications.” While at the apartment, Parham describes her first face-to-face encounter with him and claims that “Diddy [allegedly] entered the home in a grand ‘ready to party’ manner.”
The lawsuit claims that “Plaintiff [Ashley Parham] believes Defendant Shane [Pearce] invited her over to ‘set her up’ to be allegedly assaulted by Defendant Diddy because of the statement she made about Defendant Diddy a month prior.
Upon Defendant Diddy’s arrival, she claims he immediately began to allegedly antagonize the Plaintiff stating that ‘she thought she would never see him in person,’ ‘pay’ for her statements about Tupac during the video call and that Defendant Diddy “caught” Plaintiff.
According to the lawsuit, after the confrontation, Diddy allegedly held a knife to Parham’s face and allegedly threatened to harm her “in retaliation for her previous statements on the video call.” He then allegedly removed Parham’s clothing and allegedly applied “an oil/lubricant” before allegedly vaginally raping her with a television remote. The complaint also claims that Diddy, Pearce and two unidentified men allegedly anally raped Parham.
Following the alleged gang rape, Diddy allegedly forced Parham to ingest an “unknown pill.” Later, when Parham confronted him about the alleged assault, Diddy allegedly offered her money to claim the encounter was consensual and that she was a sex worker. When Parham refused, Diddy allegedly told her, “no one would ever believe she had been [allegedly] raped by him and if she did tell anyone such that they would [allegedly] harm her family.” Parham says she reported the alleged rape to multiple police departments, but no charges have been filed.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested last year and charged with Shakur’s murder, and he remains in custody while awaiting a trial set for March 2025. Davis, who has pleaded not guilty, claimed that Diddy allegedly offered $1 million to have Shakur allegedly killed. Additionally, Shakur’s family has reportedly enlisted celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro to look into Diddy’s alleged potential involvement in the murder.