Howard College introduced Friday the college would revoke Sean “Diddy” Combs’ honorary diploma, initially conferred in 2014 to the now-disgraced rapper and music mogul.
The college reported its board of trustees had voted unanimously to return to Combs’ diploma following the discharge of a 2016 video that confirmed him attacking his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
“Mr. Combs’ conduct as captured in a just lately launched video is so basically incompatible with Howard College’s core values and beliefs that he’s deemed not worthy to carry the establishment’s highest honor,” the board’s assertion learn. “The College is unwavering in its opposition to all acts of interpersonal violence.”
The video, launched final month, confirmed Combs operating out of a lodge room in a towel and chasing Ventura towards the elevator. He grabbed her by the again of the neck and threw her on the ground, kicked her, shoved her and dragged her by her sweatshirt. Later within the footage, he returned to kick her once more after which threw an object from a close-by desk at her.
The trustees’ assertion additionally famous that the college would terminate a 2016 reward settlement with Combs, disbanding the scholarship that had been established in his identify, returning his $1 million contribution and canceling a 2023 pledge settlement with the Sean Combs Basis. The assertion added that no funds towards the 2023 pledge had been made, and there have been thus no funds to be returned. Diddy attended Howard from 1987 to 1989.
Following the discharge of the video, he shared an apology in an Instagram video. “It’s so troublesome to mirror on the darkest occasions in your life, however generally you bought to try this,” he mentioned. “I used to be fucked up — I hit all-time low — however I make no excuses. My conduct on that video is inexcusable.”
Combs and Ventura had been romantically linked for over a decade. Final November, she accused the rapper of repeatedly raping and bodily abusing her throughout the course of their on-again, off-again relationship. The lawsuit, which additionally named Combs’ label, Unhealthy Boy Information, and Sony Music, claimed that Ventura was “trapped by Mr. Combs in a cycle of abuse, violence and intercourse trafficking.”
They settled the case shortly after the submitting, however Combs has since confronted a number of new lawsuits this 12 months, accusing him of rape, sexual assault and intercourse trafficking. He has denied the entire allegations. In March, his Miami and Los Angeles houses had been raided by Homeland Safety.