December 13, 2023
Grammys ‘Evaluating’ Diddy’s Invitation Amid Sexual Assault Claims
Diddy is nominated for a Grammy Award but could have his invitation rescinded due to his four sexual assault lawsuits.
Diddy is nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album at the 2024 Grammy Awards but could have his invitation rescinded due to his four sexual assault lawsuits.
The hip-hop mogul’s 2023 “The Love Album: Off the Grid” earned him a Grammy nod and an invitation to the highly coveted award show. But with the awards coming in the wake of Diddy’s four shocking sexual assault lawsuits, the Recording Academy is now “evaluating” his invitation to the Feb. 4 ceremony, Rolling Stone reports.
“We are taking this matter very seriously and we are in the process of evaluating it with the time and care that it deserves,” the organization said in its statement.
It’s likely that Diddy’s nomination won’t be revoked, considering comedian Louis C.K. and rock musician Marilyn Manson both kept their 2021 nominations despite facing sexual assault claims. C.K. even won Best Comedy Album that year, The Fader notes.
Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. addressed the controversy ahead of the 2021 award show saying that the Academy “won’t restrict the people who can submit their material for consideration,” he told The Wrap.
“We won’t look back at people’s history, we won’t look at their criminal record, we won’t look at anything other than the legality within our rules of, is this recording for this work eligible based on date and other criteria.”
Cassie was the first to sue Sean “Diddy” Combs for sexual assault last month in a suit that accused him of rape, physical abuse, and sex trafficking, among other shocking allegations. The Bad Boy founder quickly settled out of court with Cassie just 24 hours after she filed the suit.
But in the weeks that followed, three more women came forward with claims of sexual assault in lawsuits, with the most recent being from one woman who claims she was sex trafficked and gang-raped by Diddy, former Bad Boy President Harve Pierre, and another unnamed individual when she was a teenager.
Diddy released a statement last week denying the allegations, claiming “enough is enough” on him having to sit “silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram.
RELATED CONTENT: 50 Cent Confirms Proceeds From Unnamed Diddy Documentary Will Be Donated To Sexual Assault Victims