Former Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day is weighing in after Cassie accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of rape in a bombshell lawsuit.
“Been trynna tell y’all for years. Prayers up for this queen 🙌🏼 @cassie,” O’Day, 39, captioned an Instagram Story post on Thursday, November 16. In a second post, she added, “Only day ya’ll are gonna put some respect on my name when I tell you things.”
Cassie, 37, sued Diddy, 54, in federal court on Thursday, alleging that she was “a victim of sex trafficking” at the hands of the music mogul, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. The singer — whose real name is Casandra Ventura — also accused Diddy of raping her in 2018.
“After years in silence and darkness,” she shared in a statement to The New York Times on Thursday. “I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships.”
O’Day previously appeared on MTV’s Making the Band 3, a reality show created by Diddy, from 2005 to 2006. During season 3, O’Day became a breakout star and was eventually chosen to be a member of Danity Kane alongside Dawn Richard and Shannon Bex, signing to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. However, Diddy revealed during the Making the Band 4 finale in 2008 that O’Day had been kicked out of the group.
“If u think what made the cut was as ugly as it got … you’re wrong,” O’Day claimed on Thursday, sharing a clip from Making the Band of a tense conversation she had with Diddy. “He was right, it gets dark and lonely.”
In an additional statement to Rolling Stone, O’Day made it clear that she’s “in complete support” of Cassie amid the ongoing lawsuit.
“It isn’t easy to take on one of the most powerful people in this industry and be honest about your experience with them. I know what her heart is feeling right now, because I have done so as well,” she noted. “May her voice bring all the others to the table, so we can start having more transparent conversations about what is actually happening behind the scenes. There is a lot more to all of our stories!”
Last year, O’Day claimed on an episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she was fired from Danity Kane because she “wasn’t willing to do what was expected of [her] — not talent-wise, but in other areas.”
She further claimed to be “the only girl that was in those types of positions,” explaining that she was “young and impressionable” at the time.
“You know, I have such a love-hate [relationship] with it all because I don’t think I would’ve been able to be so successful in so many other areas had I not been trained under Diddy,” O’Day shared on the podcast. “He was the hardest person that you can work for, and it was torture. And not the work part of it, but the other stuff — mind games.”
In September, O’Day claimed that Diddy had her sign an NDA in exchange for Danity Kane’s publishing rights after Bad Boy was purchased by Sony.
“I have to release him for any claims or wrongdoings or actions prior to the date of the release,” she said on the “OnlyStans” podcast. “I have to sign an NDA that I will never disparage Puff, Bad Boy, Janice Combs, or Justin Combs Music, or EMI, or Sony ever in public.”
Diddy did not respond to O’Day’s comments at the time but vehemently denied the allegations in Cassie’s lawsuit.
“Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. For the past six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail,” his lawyer Ben Brafman said in a statement to The New York Times on Thursday. “Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s reputation and seeking a payday.”
