Tiffany Red is “standing in solidarity” with her friend Cassie following the latter’s settlement of her sexual assault and abuse lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“I fear for my safety as her suit alludes to me, although not by name,” Red, 36, wrote in an open letter to Diddy, 54, published by Rolling Stone on Thursday, December 7. “I hope that revealing my identity to the public will afford me some measure of protection.”
Red said she and Cassie (full name Casandra Ventura) “remain close” friends after first working together on Cassie’s unreleased second album in 2015. “I’m one of the friends mentioned in her lawsuit, specifically from the night of her 29th birthday, as she detailed in the section labeled ‘Mr. Combs Forces Ms. Ventura Into Sex Trafficking,’” Red continued.
Last month, Cassie, 37, filed a lawsuit against her ex, whom she dated off and on from 2007 to 2018, accusing him of rape, physical abuse and forcing her to take drugs. She also alleged that he forced her to have sex on camera with “male sex workers.”
Diddy vehemently denied Cassie’s allegations at the time.
Red went on to recall meeting Diddy at Cassie’s 29th birthday party in Los Angeles, where Diddy allegedly questioned her about the songs she and Cassie had been writing together. “So you’re the one writing all these songs about me?” Red remembered Diddy saying to her. “I said yes, and you stared back and said, ‘That means she’s talking to you, huh?’ I was uncomfortable because it seemed like you were talking about the more turbulent parts of your relationship.”
After leaving the party and going to karaoke — during which Red allegedly witnessed Diddy yell at Cassie — Cassie reluctantly went out again with Diddy while Red and other friends spent the night at Cassie’s place.
“A few hours later, I was woken up by [Diddy] screaming. ‘Emotional singing bitch, where are you?!’” Red wrote, claiming that Diddy appeared intoxicated while Cassie looked “sedated and very withdrawn.”
Red continued: “You started screaming at us, ‘Tell your girl she wants some birthday dick. I flew all the way from Miami. She gone get this birthday dick!’ You were visibly angry that she didn’t want that from you. I was terrified; I said, ‘She doesn’t have to have sex with you if she doesn’t want to.’ You just kept screaming, ‘She gone get this dick.’”
Red compared the incident to “a real-life scary movie,” adding that she was left feeling “terrified for Cassie and completely traumatized.” Later, Red said Cassie revealed to her that Diddy made her have a “Freak Off” that night, during which Cassie was forced to “perform sexual acts with male sex workers.”
Despite feeling “tormented” by that night for years and suffering from “PTSD, paranoia and anxiety” because of it, Red noted that she “finally” feels free to share her story following Cassie’s lawsuit. “The power imbalance makes it nearly impossible to fight back and terrifying to speak up. But despite that, here I am, standing beside my friend,” she wrote. “There are moments in life when some of us have to face the hard choice of speaking truth to power or not. This is one of those moments.”
Cassie and Diddy settled the lawsuit on November 17, one day after it was filed. “Just so we’re clear, a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” Diddy’s attorney Ben Brafman told Us Weekly in a statement last month. “Mr. Combs’ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.”
Diddy has since been named in three other sexual assault lawsuits and has denied all the allegations against him.
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” the rapper told Us in a statement on Wednesday, December 6. “For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
