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Bow Wow is weighing in on Sean “Diddy” Combs amid his arrest.
“I never thought I would see it like this,” the rapper recently said during a guest appearance on the More to the Story podcast with Rocsi Diaz. “He’s like the gatekeeper to the game, to the point to where BET Award weekend, like the past two, it just didn’t feel right because there was no motion, there was no parties.”
While he didn’t mention Combs’ sexual “freak off” parties, Bow Wow continued, “It’s like a hole. He was just such a gatekeeper for the liquor and the clubs. He was everything hip-hop. So for that to die out, you just really never thought. Especially when you look at somebody as somebody you studied, somebody you idolized.”
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Diddy was arrested last month in New York City, and Manhattan federal prosecutors are accusing him of operating a criminal enterprise centered on his “pervasive pattern of abuse toward women.”
The indictment, obtained by Billboard, includes allegations of sexual abuse, accusing rapper and music executive of running a racketeering conspiracy that included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery. If convicted of the charges, Combs is facing a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life behind bars. Diddy pleaded not guilty and his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has maintained his client’s innocence.
In a video obtained by CNN earlier this year and dated March 5, 2016, Combs appears to shove his longtime former partner, Cassie Ventura, to the ground near an elevator bank, kick her several times while she lies on the ground and drag her down a hallway. The contents of the video mirror an assault allegation Ventura made in a now-settled lawsuit she filed against Diddy in November.
The embattled Bad Boy mogul has repeatedly been denied bond and will remain behind bars until his trial begins in May 2025.
Jake E. Lee — a former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne — was shot multiple times in Las Vegas early Tuesday morning (Oct. 15) while walking his dog, TMZ reports. He is expected to make a full recovery. The outlet writes that the shooting occurred around 2:40 a.m. as Lee took his dog out for a […]
Diddy broke his social media silence on Tuesday (Oct. 15) when he returned to Instagram to wish his daughter Love Sean Combs a happy birthday. Love Combs turned 2 on Tuesday, and Diddy’s account posted a slideshow of photos for the occasion, including from a photo shoot eating cake and hanging with her dad in […]
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Limp Bizkit sues Universal Music Group for $200 million over claims that the band has ‘never’ been paid royalties; a lawsuit against Nelly takes a twist as his former bandmates allegedly push back on the case; Barry White’s estate files a lawsuit over Future and Metro Boomin’s chart-topper “Like That”; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Has Limp Bizkit Really Never Gotten Royalties?
At one point in the bombshell, $200 million lawsuit Limp Bizkit filed against Universal Music Group last week, the band’s attorneys explicitly asked the question that everyone was thinking as they read the case: “The band had still not been paid a single cent by UMG in any royalties until taking action against UMG, leading one to ask how on earth that could possibly be true.”
How on earth, indeed. How had one of the biggest bands of its era, which sold millions of records during the music industry’s MTV-fueled, turn-of-the-century glory days, still never have been paid any royalties nearly three decades later?
According to Limp Bizkit and frontman Fred Durst, the answer is an “appalling and unsettling” scheme by UMG centered on “systemic” and “fraudulent” policies that were “deliberately designed” to conceal royalties from artists and “keep those profits for itself.”
Scathing language aside, the lawsuit really appears to be a long-delayed dispute over recoupment.
Durst says that UMG repeatedly told him that Limp remained unrecouped — meaning its royalties still had not surpassed the amount the group had been paid in upfront advances. UMG allegedly told Durst that it had paid out a whopping $43 million in advances over the years, a huge figure that would go a long way to explaining the lack of royalties.
Limp Bizkit’s lawsuit says UMG didn’t provide “any back-up for this alleged amount” – and that the label essentially kept the band in the red with shady bookkeeping, including “intentionally concealing the true amount of sales” and “fraudulent accounting practices.”
“Where did this additional $199,676.00 charged to the account come from?” the band’s lawyers wrote at one point, referring to one such alleged inconsistency. “It seems to have come out of thin air to overdraft Limp Bizkit’s due and payable account in order to defraud Limp Bizkit and show an unrecouped account.”
UMG has not yet publicly commented on the allegations, so we’ll keep you updated when the music giant files its first formal response in court…
Other top stories this week…
ALWAYS MORE DIDDY – Since you last heard from Legal Beat one whole week ago, there have somehow already been four big developments in the story of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who stands accused of decades of sexual abuse. Here goes:
-Attorneys for the rapper filed their opening salvo in an appeal of a ruling denying him pre-trial release on bail, arguing the “sensationalism” of the case led the judge to keep him locked up over “purely speculative” concerns about witness intimidation. In the days since, the appeals court has already declined to issue a quick ruling releasing him; instead, the court will hear the case at normal pace and rule at some point in the next few months on whether he should be set free until trial.
-Less than a day after filing the appeal, Combs’s team accused the government of leaking evidence to the media in order to “taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial.” Among other evidence allegedly shared with the press? The infamous surveillance video of Combs assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie in 2016, which his lawyers say was leaked “to mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself.”
-The judge set a May 5 date for the start of Combs’ criminal trial, in which he will face charges of racketeering and sex trafficking over what prosecutors say was a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” The schedule could still be pushed back, particularly if prosecutors file new charges or add defendants to the case, or if Combs eventually gets released on bail and chooses to waive his “speedy trial” right.
-Six new civil lawsuits were filed in Manhattan federal court, including one from a man who says he was sexually assaulted by Combs in 1998 when he was 16 years old and attending one of the rapper’s famed “white parties” in the Hamptons. The cases were the first in a wave of dozens of civil cases that are expected to be filed in the weeks ahead by Los Angeles attorney Andrew Van Arsdale and Texas attorney Tony Buzbee, who earlier this month said they are representing at least 120 such alleged victims.
ST. LUNATICS REBEL – Weeks after Nelly’s former St. Lunatics groupmates sued him for allegedly cutting them out of royalties, an attorney for the star claimed that three of them had never approved the lawsuit in the first place. In a letter sent last month, Nelly’s attorney warned the lawyer who filed the case last month that Murphy Lee (Tohri Harper), Kyjuan (Robert Kyjuan) and City Spud (Lavell Webb) had recently retained his services and had “informed me that they did not authorize you to include them as plaintiffs” and were “demanding you remove their names” from the case.
DR. DRE’S DR. DRAMA – Dr. Dre was hit with a lawsuit accusing him a waging a “malicious campaign of harassment” against a psychiatrist served as a marriage counselor and mediator for the rapper and his now-ex-wife Nicole Young. Dr. Charles J. Sophy says the rapper subjected him to a “barrage of threats” via text message, and even sent fake FBI agents to his home to intimidate him. Dre’s attorneys quickly fired back, saying Sophy only sued because Dre is currently seeking to have his medical license revoked over allegations of “dereliction of duties and incredible incompetence” during the divorce.
SAMPLE SPAT – Barry White’s estate filed a copyright lawsuit over allegations that a prominent sample at the heart of Future and Metro Boomin’s chart-topping “Like That” infringes the rights to a 1973 song by the legendary singer — but they didn’t actually file the case against those stars. Instead, they sued duo Rodney-O (Rodney Oliver) & Joe Cooley, the classic hip hop duo behind “Everlasting Bass,” the track that Future and Metro Boomin sampled.
NAME BLAME – Attorneys for Garth Brooks publicly disclosed the name of a woman who sued the country star for sexual assault, naming her as a defendant in a lawsuit that accuses the woman of extortion and defamation. The move drew a sharp rebuke from the woman’s lawyers, who said Brooks had “publicly named a rape victim” in order to “punish” her for speaking out.
THE CASE ISN’T ALRIGHT – A California appeals court sided with The Offspring in a long-running court case filed by former drummer Ron Welty, rejecting his claims that he was owed millions more from the punk band’s $35 million catalog sale to Round Hill Music. A Los Angeles judge rejected those accusations last year, and California’s Court of Appeals ruled that there had been “no reversible error” in that decision.
I WANT MY ROYALTIES BACK, ROYALTIES BACK – What’s going on in the Chili’s legal department? For the second time this year, the huge restaurant chain was sued over accusations that it used copyrighted music on social media without permission — this time by Universal Music Group over dozens songs by Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and other stars. The new case came shortly after the advertising-averse Beastie Boys sued Chili’s over the same thing back in July.
TAKING THE STAND – Amid a lawsuit claiming Martin Shkreli might leak copies of Wu-Tang Clan’s ultra-rare album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a federal judge ruled that the pharma exec must personally go to court and testify under oath about the fate of the album. Shkreli once owned the album, but was forced to forfeit to federal prosecutors after he was convicted of securities fraud.
YE LAWSUIT UPDATE – Ye (formerly Kanye West) was sued by Lauren Pisciotta, a former assistant who claimed that the rapper drugged and sexually assaulted her during a studio session he co-hosted with Diddy. Pisciotta already sued Ye in July for sexual harassment, breach of contract and wrongful termination, but she filed an updated version of the case that includes the Diddy-linked claims.
With just three weeks to go before the crucial Nov. 5 presidential election, Donald Trump is doubling-down on a lot of his most controversial campaign rally greatest hits. In addition to denigrating his rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, by employing abelist slurs at a recent event, twice impeached convicted felon Trump threatened to employ the military to “handle” his left-wing detractors in an weekend interview. The MAGA leader also bailed on a planned town hall in Pennsylvania on Monday (Oct. 14) in favor of dancing along to a 40 minute playlist of songs featuring a number of artists who’ve explicitly asked him (more than once) to stop playing their music at his rallies.
According to ABC, the event in Oaks, PA in the crucial swing state was twice interrupted by medical emergencies in the crowd in the overheated Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds. Half an hour in, an attendee was stretchered out of the venue, which reportedly prompted Trump to ask the sound person to fire up Schubert’s operatic “Ave Maria.” After a second person fainted and was attended to, Trump asked for the doors to be opened to let some fresh air in, before being told that was not possible for security reasons.
So, after making a joke about people passing out, Trump dispensed with questions and kicked off a bizarre 30-plus minute playlist song and dance during which he cued up a number of well-known tracks by artists who have explicitly, and repeatedly, asked him to cease and desist from playing their music at his rallies.
According to video of the evening, Trump played Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” as well as Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain,” James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” Elvis’ “An American Trilogy,” the Village People’s “YMCA” and Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye.”
In a statement issued Tuesday morning (Oct. 15), Harris supporter Wainwright lambasted Trump for playing the singer’s version of Cohen’s beloved 1984 hymn to the universal struggle of love and heartbreak.
“The song ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonard Cohen has become an anthem dedicated to peace, love and acceptance of the truth. I’ve been supremely honored over the years to be connected with this ode to tolerance,” wrote Wainwright. “Witnessing Trump and his supporters commune with this music last night was the height of blasphemy. Of course, I in no way condone this and was mortified, but the good in me hopes that perhaps in inhabiting and really listening to the lyrics of Cohen’s masterpiece, Donald Trump just might experience a hint of remorse over what he’s caused. I’m not holding my breath.” The statement also noted that the publishing company for the Cohen estate has sent a cease-and-desist order to the Trump campaign.
GNR and O’Connor’s reps have pointedly asked Trump not to play their music during his campaign stops, with the Village People threatening to sue the former reality TV star last year over what they said was a lookalike band playing their hits at his Mar-a-Lago Florida private club after years of asking him to remove their 1978 queer disco classic from his queue. At press time, spokespeople for all three acts had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on Trump’s Monday playlist event, though a spokesperson for VP co-founder Victor Willis said a statement was in the works.
The candidate vying for a second White House stint — in the midst of his third overall campaign — has accumulated a long list of acts who do not want to be associated with his divisive, frequently mendacious rhetoric. Over the course of two weeks this summer, Beyoncé, the Foo Fighters and Jack White all slammed the Trump campaign for using their music without permission.
They joined a long list of acts who’ve made similar requests since Trump first ran for the nation’s highest office in 2016, a roster that includes: Adele, Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie, Celine Dion, Earth, Wind & Fire, George Harrison, Neil Young, Isaac Hayes, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Ozzy Osbourne, Prince’s estate and R.E.M., among many others.
Trump has mostly ignored those pleas, even in the face of a lawsuit from the estate of Hayes, though according to previous Billboard reporting there is a long tradition of campaigns hijacking artist’s songs for their own political ends with little blowback. In reality, if a campaign obtains a license to use songs from the catalogs of the leading performing rights organizations BMI and ASCAP — which cover nearly every recognizable song you can think of — they are free to play them. There is, however, a “caveat” in the license that allows the songwriters to object to use of their compositions in a political campaign, which could result in the rights orgs pulling a song from a candidate’s license.
In August, the Foo Fighters vowed to donate royalties from “My Hero” to the Harris campaign following Trump’s blasting of the song at a rally where he was endorsed by rival-turned-supporter independent presidential candidate and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. At the time, the Independent reported that it had reviewed documents that appeared to confirm that the Trump campaign had licensed the song from BMI’s Songview service.
It was unknown at press time if the Trump campaign had licenses for the other songs played at Monday event, and a spokesperson had not yet returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
Jon Bon Jovi announced his endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris for President in a song on Friday, spotlighting the patriotic Forever album tune “The People’s House” featuring the War and Treaty in a post explaining his decision.
“The People’s House is a song that celebrates this beautiful place that we call home, from sea to shining sea. @thewarandtreaty,” Bon Jovi wrote. “The truth matters. And the truth is on election day I’ll be voting for @KamalaHarris and @TimWalz because I believe in the power of we, not of me. I’ve written a song reminding us that out of many, we are still one.”
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff thanked the Jersey rocker in a Bon Jovi-quoting post on X, writing, “It’s my wife, and it’s now or never. Election’s coming in November. Thanks for supporting Kamala, @JonBonJovi!” alongside a pic of him posing with the band’s singer.
Bon Jovi has long been a supporter of the Democratic party, lining up behind President Joe Biden at the current commander in chief’s 2021 inauguration day “Celebrating America” concert, where he performed an acoustic take on the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” as well as a pre-election “I Will Vote” concert that also featured Jennifer Hudson, Ciara, Ne-Yo, Sara Bareilles, A$AP Ferg, P!nk, John Legend and others.
After replacing Biden following the President’s surprise decision to drop out of the race in July following a disastrous debate performance against three-time candidate former President Donald Trump, Harris has racked up a bumper crop of A-list endorsements. Among the chart-topping musicians lining up behind the Vice President and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are: P!nk, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift.
Twice impeached convicted felon Trump reacted with his typical disdain when Swift helped cap August’s Democratic National Convention by posting a full-throated endorsement of Harris, announcing on his Truth Social platform, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”
Check out Bon Jovi’s post and Emhoff’s response below.
Idina Menzel has experienced more than her fair share of people mispronouncing her name — but she’s drawing the line when it comes to Kamala Harris.
With Election Day less than a month away, the Broadway alum issued a video PSA via Instagram on Sunday demonstrating the exact way to say the VP’s moniker. “You have to get the pronunciation of Kamala Harris correct,” she says in the clip, standing outside while addressing the camera. “It’s getting really exhausting. It’s Kamala, like a comma. ‘Comma-la.’”
“I tend to be an expert on pronunciations of names, since mine is always screwed up, as you know,” Menzel continued, before referencing one of the most viral moments of her career: when John Travolta butchered her name while introducing her performance at the 2014 Oscars.
“And not just as ‘Adele Dazeem,’” the Frozen star says. “People call me Indiana, ‘Eye-dina’ … I was just at an event in Oklahoma, and they called me ‘Ay-deena Menzul.’”
Though Menzel says people are constantly mispronouncing her name, Travolta’s flub is definitely the most memorable. Though he’d later say that a last-second change to the teleprompter was to blame, he mistakenly set up her performance of “Let It Go” by saying, “Please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only Adele Dazeem.”
At the time, Menzel took it in stride and, at the next year’s ceremony, got the Grease actor back by referring to him as “Glom Gazingo” as the two presented onstage. Earlier this year, the Rent performer celebrated the viral moment’s 10-year anniversary with a funny TikTok, telling the camera: “Hey, Adele Dazeem! It’s Idina Menzel … I just wanted to say happy birthday. Sending you so much love and positive energy.”
When it comes to Harris, however, Menzel isn’t joking around. At the end of her PSA, the star adds, “I think that the vice president and soon-to-be president should have her name pronounced correctly.”
Watch Menzel’s tutorial on how to say Kamala Harris’ name below.
Seven new sexual abuse lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs were filed Monday (Oct. 14) in Manhattan federal court, the first in a wave of dozens of civil cases expected to be filed in the weeks ahead.
The cases — each filed by an anonymous Jane Doe or John Doe plaintiff — were all filed by Los Angeles attorney Andrew Van Arsdale and Texas attorney Tony Buzbee, who earlier this month said he is representing at least 120 such alleged victims.
“While his wealth has kept him above consequence for years, Combs now faces the awesome power of the American judicial system and ultimately a jury of his peers who will be asked to punish him for the deplorable conduct,” the lawyers wrote in matching language in each complaint.
Five of the cases on Monday were filed by men and two were filed by women. In one, a woman claims that Combs lured her into a bathroom at a 1995 promotional event for a Notorious B.I.G. music video, then violently raped her. “You better not tell anyone about this, or you will disappear,” he allegedly told her after the attack.
Another case was filed by a man who says he was sexually assaulted by Combs in 1998 when he was 16 years old and attending one of the rapper’s famed “white parties” in the Hamptons. The man claims that Combs forced him to remove his pants and demanded he allow him to “inspect” his genitals.
“Combs abruptly then let go of John Doe’s genitals and told him that his people would be in touch,” the lawyers write in that lawsuit. “Combs continued with his party as if nothing had happened, but for John Doe, everything had changed.”
Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Combs, also known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was once one of the most powerful men in the music industry. But last month, he was indicted by federal prosecutors over accusations of sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery. If convicted on all the charges, he potentially faces a sentence of life in prison.
In their indictment, prosecutors allege that Combs ran a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” The charges detailed “freak offs” in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex with male sex workers, as well as alleged acts of violence and intimidation to keep victims silent.
A trial is currently set for May 5.
In addition to the criminal cases, Combs has also faced a slew of civil lawsuits over the past year, including at least 12 filed prior to Monday’s new lawsuits.
Chris Brown’s headed to South African for a pair of concerts in December, but a women’s rights advocacy group has launched a petition seeking to ban him from taking the stage due to his history of alleged abuse.
Women for Change started a petition Oct. 2 on Change.org that boasts more than 28,000 signatures as of press time, hoping to stop Brown — who pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, and was sentenced to probation and community labor — from performing in South Africa, which the BBC reports has a long history of abuse and one of the “highest rates of femicide and gender-based violence in the world.” According to the petition, the group wants the promoters, the South African government and organizers to “reconsider” allowing the artist to perform at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium in mid December.
“His concert is scheduled just days after the global commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, making this event a direct insult to the millions of women and girls affected by violence in South Africa and worldwide,” reads the petition.
“When I saw the news that Chris Brown was coming to South Africa, I was shocked and deeply disappointed,” Women for Change executive director Sabina Walter told the BBC. “The petition was started to send a strong message that we will not tolerate the celebration of individuals with a history of violence against women.”
She continued: “When someone like Chris Brown is given a platform in a country where GBV is at crisis levels, it sends a damaging message — that fame and power outweigh accountability.”
Billboard has reached out to Brown for comment.
The fan demand for Brown’s initial concert at FNB Stadium was so overwhelming — tickets sold out in under two hours — that a second show was added at the 94,000-capacity stadium.
Brown has faced issues for performing in the past due to his legal history in countries such as New Zealand, Canada, Australia and more. The pair of South Africa shows are currently set for Dec. 14 and Dec. 15.
A documentary surrounding Chris Brown’s alleged history of abuse is coming to the Investigation Discovery network later this month. Chris Brown: A History of Violence will land on ID on Oct. 27 as part of the network’s “No Excuse for Abuse” campaign, which will further explore his legal issues. The doc features an unidentified victim who is coming forward to tell her story of alleged abuse from Brown for the first time.
Neil Young has made it clear he’s no fan of Donald Trump. The “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World” guitar hero has threatened to sue twice impeached convicted felon Trump before for playing his songs at campaign rallies, and over the weekend Young made it clear that he does not want to give the former President a second chance in Washington.
“Kamala Harris — She is an honest forthright truth teller who is experienced in the White House, free from ambiguity or evasiveness, who goes straight to the point,” wrote Young on his Archives site on Friday about the sitting Vice President, who is less than a month away from possibly becoming the nation’s first female President.
“Clear headed, young enough to hold the office for a couple of bright future terms, Kamala Harris is a good person who is unafraid to take on criminals and uphold the law of the USA. She’s my candidate for the future of this country,” he continued.
Toronto-born Young, 78 — who became a naturalized American citizen in 2020 — has been very vocal about his disdain for Trump, who continues to peddle the false narrative that he won the 2020 election over President Joe Biden, while over the weekend hurling his latest insult at his opponent when he referred to former Senator and California Attorney General Harris as “retarded.”
“Kamala Harris will take on the billionaire class and make them pay their fair share of taxes,” Young concluded. “She will not owe them favors. She is a kind, considerate American. Cast your vote for a beautiful future for your family. Kamala Harris for President.”
After years of threatening to sue Trump for using his music at campaign rallies without permission, as well as penning a scathing open letter to the former reality TV star in which he referred to Trump as “a disgrace to my country,” Young’s endorsement is a double-down on his August decision to let Harris’ VP pic, Gov. Tim Walz, officially use his song “Rockin’ in the Free World” during campaign events.
Young joins a growing list of A-list stars who’ve stepped up to support Harris since she unexpectedly jumped into the race in July when President Biden agreed to not seek a second term. Among the artists proudly supporting Harris are: Beyoncé, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Barbra Streisand, Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion, P!nk, Bon Iver, Bruce Springsteen, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande and many more.