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Cassie’s legal team is shutting down Sean “Diddy” Combs’ claim that CNN altered the surveillance footage of him assaulting her in a hotel hallway.
Diddy’s lawyers alleged in a new court filing, obtained by TMZ on March 13, that “CNN purchased the only known copy of the hotel’s surveillance footage, uploaded that footage into a free editing software, altered the video and then destroyed the original footage” before airing it in May 2024.
The defense claims the network “covered the time stamp, changed the video sequence, and sped up the footage” to make the attack appear more severe.
CNN swiftly denied the accusations.
In a statement to TMZ, the network insisted, “CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source.” They added that their report on the footage aired months before Diddy’s arrest.
Now, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura’s lawyer is weighing in.
In a statement to DailyMail, the singer’s attorney Douglas Wigdor dismissed Diddy’s claims as an attempt to keep the footage out of court.
“It’s not surprising Diddy would make a disingenuous argument to exclude the disturbing video from being shown to the jury in the upcoming trial,” he said.
CNN released the damning video of the music mogul attacking Cassie in 2016 in May 2024, months after she filed and settled the first of many sexual assault lawsuits against Diddy. That was when Cassie took to social media to break her silence.
Diddy also issued an Instagram apology, calling his behaviour “inexcusable.” However, he later deleted the post just months later after his arrest.
Diddy, 55, remains in custody at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, facing multiple federal charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering. His trial is set to begin on May 5, and he has denied all allegations.
