Streaming activity for Sean “Diddy” Combs has severely dipped since he has been accused of assault and harassment.
When comparing Combs’ U.S. catalog streams during the first week of December — two weeks after Cassie Ventura sued him — with streams of his catalog during the week ending May 16, there was a 51.8 percent decrease for songs under his stage name Diddy from 2,624,000 streams to 1,265,000 streams, according to Luminate, which tracks music streams and sales.
As Puff Daddy during the same period, he saw a similar drop: there was a 48.3 percent decrease from 1,359,000 streams to 703,000 streams. Under his stage name Diddy, the change was very small: a 2.1 decrease from 604,000 streams to 591,200 streams.
The streaming decline comes after Combs apologized on Sunday for a recently surfaced 2016 video which sees him attacking Ventura, his ex-girlfriend and former protege who was signed to his Bad Boy record label. In the video, first obtained by CNN, Combs is running out of a hotel room in a towel and chasing a woman who appears to be Ventura toward the elevator. He grabs her by the back of the neck and throws her on the floor, kicks her, shoves her and drags her by her sweatshirt. Later in the footage, he returns to kick her again, and then throws an object from a nearby table at her.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said in a video posted to his Instagram account. “I was fucked up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
Combs and Ventura, who had a major hit in 2006 with the bop “Me & U,” were romantically linked for over a decade. Last November, she accused the rapper of repeatedly raping and physically abusing her during their relationship. The lawsuit, which also named Bad Boy and Sony Music, claimed that Ventura was “trapped by Mr. Combs in a cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking.” The claim also alleged that Diddy “punched, beat, kicked and stomped” on her several times. They settled the case shortly after the filing, but Combs has since faced multiple new lawsuits this year, accusing him of rape, sexual assault and sex trafficking. He has denied all of the allegations. In March, his Miami and Los Angeles’ homes were raided by Homeland Security.
Combs’ last album, The Love Album, earned him a Grammy nomination — marking his first nod in 20 years as a lead artist, though he decided to skip the February ceremony as drama surrounded him. The album didn’t make a real splash on the music charts, but it earned some acclaim and featured high-profile collaborations with Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Burna Boy and even Herb Alpert. It was also on the first-round ballot for this year’s BET Awards though it didn’t earn a nomination for album of the year.
Since releasing music in the ‘90s, Combs has dropped solo projects but mainly appears on songs through collaborations, remixes and as a producer. He famously produced albums by the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, and produced songs for Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Burna Boy and Jennifer Lopez, his former girlfriend. And he has collaborated on songs with a wide variety of artists, including Usher, Beyonce, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Katy Perry.
Combs has scored 15 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including five No.1s. He is the winner of three Grammy Awards.
Luminate is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, the joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Penske Media Corporation that also owns The Hollywood Reporter.
