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Cassie has issued a statement in response to the outpouring of support she’s received following the release of the video of her then-boyfriend Diddy physically assaulting her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
The “Me & U” singer hadn’t spoken out since CNN posted the footage on May 17, with only her attorneys issuing statements. That changed on Thursday morning (May 23) when she addressed the situation and thanked those who have supported her.
“Thank you for all of the love and support from my family, friends, strangers and those have yet to meet. The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now, but this is only the beginning. Domestic Violence is THE issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past,” she wrote on Instagram, making no mention of Diddy by name.
“Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to take this matter seriously. My only ask is that EVERYONE open your heart to believing victims the first time. It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in.”
Cassie continued: “I offer my hand to those that are still living in fear. Reach out to your people, don’t cut them off. No one should carry this weight alone. This healing journey is never ending, but this support means everything to me. Thank you. Love Always, Cassie.”
Kelly Rowland, Chloe Bailey, Lala Anthony, Taraji P. Henson and more showered Cassie with love and commended her bravery in her IG comment section.
In the footage dated March 5, 2016, and released by CNN, Diddy is seen striking Cassie at an elevator bank of a Los Angeles hotel and dragging her through the hallway after kicking her.
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs,” said Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, in a statement to Billboard at the time. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
Diddy issued an apology on Sunday (May 17), saying his actions in the video were “inexcusable,” and added he was “disgusted” with his behavior.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said in the video posted to Instagram. “I was f–ked up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.”
Cassie and Diddy met in 2005 and dated on-and-off for a decade before splitting for good in 2018. Ventura filed a lawsuit against Diddy in Manhattan federal court in November 2023, alleging rape, sexual assault, physical abuse and more.
The two parties settled the dispute less than 24 hours later. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control,” Ventura said in a statement issued by her attorney at the time. “I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support.”
With additional sexual assault lawsuits piling up, Combs has continued to deny all allegations made against him. “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” he said in a statement on Dec. 6. “I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Read Cassie’s statement in full below.
Charlamagne Tha God’s Get Honest or Die Lying book tour stopped by The View on Wednesday (May 23). While in conversation about the healing that needs to happen in hip-hop and for him personally, The Breakfast Club co-host was asked about Diddy’s sexual misconduct allegations and the recently-published footage of him assaulting Cassie. Charlamagne told […]
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit filed by a woman who claims the hip-hop mogul sexually assaulted her in a recording studio bathroom in 2003.
According to the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in New York by attorneys Michelle Caiola and Jonathan Goldhirsch, Crystal McKinney claims she met Combs at a Men’s Fashion Week dinner in Manhattan on the invite of a fashion designer she knew. While attending the dinner, during which she alleges that Combs came onto her “in a sexually suggestive manner,” she says he invited her to hang out at his recording studio.
After arriving at the studio, where McKinney says several other men were present, she claims she was given alcohol and a marijuana joint that she later came to believe was laced “with a narcotic or other intoxicating substance.” She says Combs then led her to a bathroom, where he began kissing her without her consent before shoving her head in his crotch and forcing her to perform oral sex over her protests.
McKinney, who was then working as a professional model, claims that she later “awakened in shock” to find herself in a taxi heading back to the apartment of the designer who had invited her to the dinner. At this point, she “realized that she had been sexually assaulted by Combs,” the complaint reads. The lawsuit adds that following the alleged assault, McKinney’s “modeling opportunities quickly began to dwindle and then evaporated entirely” after Combs allegedly “blackballed” her in the industry. After falling into “a tailspin of anxiety and depression,” she claims she attempted suicide in 2004 and later fell into drug and alcohol addiction to cope with the trauma of the alleged assault.
The new lawsuit was filed under the NYC Gender Motivated Violence Act, which created a two-year lookback window beginning in March 2023 that allows survivors of gender-motivated violence to sue their abusers for alleged incidents that occurred outside the statute of limitations.
Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are Combs’ label Bad Boy Records, its parent company Universal Music Group and Combs’ clothing company Sean John Clothing, all of which McKinney claims “enabled” the alleged assault by “actively maintaining and employing Combs in a position of power” despite the fact that they allegedly “knew or should have known that Combs posed a risk of sexual assault.”
McKinney is asking for damages for mental and emotional injury, distress, pain and suffering and injury to her reputation as well as punitive damages, among other relief.
Representatives for Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment, Sean John Clothing and Universal Music Group did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s requests for comment.
Tuesday’s complaint marks the sixth sexual misconduct lawsuit to have been filed against Combs over the past several months. The torrent of lawsuits was kicked off by a November 2023 complaint filed by his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who alleged repeated abuse by the mogul over the course of more than a decade.
Though Ventura’s lawsuit was settled just one day later, a 2016 security video published by CNN on Friday (May 17) showed Combs physically assaulting Ventura in a hotel hallway. Though Combs denied all of Ventura’s initial allegations, in the wake of the video’s release he issued an apology calling his behavior in the clip “inexcusable.” L.A. District Attorney George Gascón later released a statement saying that Combs could not be prosecuted over the assault due to the statute of limitations.
Combs has strongly denied all allegations of sexual assault made against him. On Dec. 6, he released a statement that read: “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.”
In November, Combs stepped down as chairman of his digital media company Revolt before reportedly selling his stake in the company in March. Also in March, federal agents conducted raids of Combs’ L.A. and Miami homes “in connection” with a federal sex trafficking investigation, according to CNN.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex Misa Hylton has taken to Instagram to speak out following a devastating 2016 video resurfaced, in which the hip-hop star appears to be physically assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel.
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“I am heartbroken that Cassie must relive the horror of her abuse, and my heart goes out to her. I know exactly how she feels, and through my empathy, it has triggered my own trauma,” Hylton wrote on Instagram, alongside photos of Combs’ seven children. She shares 30-year-old Justin Combs with Diddy, and dated the “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper in the early 1990s.
“These young people were raised by women that want the best for them – we put God and education first and have always been united in our mutual effort to support their dreams. Two of the youngest do not have their mother here and it has been our duty to support them,” Hylton continued. “Their father needs help and I am praying that he truly does the personal work and receives it.”
See her post here.
In the video, obtained by CNN earlier this month and dated March 5, 2016, Combs appears to shove 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.
Shortly after, on May 19, Diddy took to social media to share a video of himself taking responsibility and apologizing for his actions in the disturbing clip. “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy says in his Instagram video. “I was f—ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.”
He continued, “I went out and sought professional help. Had to go into therapy, into rehab. Had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to being a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs,” said Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, in a statement sent to Billboard. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
Following the video’s release, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office issued a statement that Combs won’t be prosecuted over his actions in the 2016 video. “We find the images extremely disturbing and difficult to watch,” the office of L.A. District Attorney George Gascón wrote in a statement on Instagram Friday (May 17). “If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”
Trigger warning: the following story contains descriptions of sexual assault.
In an emotional TikTok video posted over the weekend, former Drake & Josh star Drake Bell shared that a ballad from his 2005 debut album Telegraph, entitled “In the End,” featured lyrics alluding to his sexual abuse at the hands of Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck. That abuse was explored in the recent docuseries Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which chronicled stories of emotional abuse and traumatic experiences suffered by teen and tween actors on the sets of a variety of Nickelodeon programs.
“Wrote this song when I was 15 about what happened before I said anything to anyone,” Bell captioned the one-minute video, in which he sits with a forlorn, pained look as the song’s emotional lyrics play out. “Wake up/ It’s time to get your things together and drive away/ ‘Breathe out, future days will treat you better’/ That’s what they say,” he sings. “Another day gone without a say/ But it’s okay if you turn around/ And feel the memories bringin’ you down.”
The song’s lyrics never appear to explicitly mention abuse, but the chorus (not included in Bell’s video) hints at dark themes. “Wake up/ The monsters in your head have left you/ All to yourself, it’s alright/ If ugly little things remind you of how it felt,” he sings, adding, “Another day, no one tells you what it means/ What’s in your way and poisonin’ your dreams/ The darkest place that you’ve ever been.”
Trending on Billboard
Bell, now 37, detailed his abuse for the first time in the four-part series that plumbed the toxic work environment at the Viacom children’s network on sets run by Dan Schneider, creator of such hit programs as Drake & Josh, The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious and Sam & Cat, which launched the careers of such superstars as Ariana Grande, Amanda Bynes, Kenan Thompson, Victoria Justice and more.
In the series, Bell discussed his abuse by Peck — who was convicted of sexually assaulting a Nickelodeon child actor (Bell) in 2004 — for the first time, alongside other then-underage actor’s stories alleging abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate alleged predatory behavior at the network.
Peck was convicted in 2004, a year before Bell’s debut album was released and several years after authorities said the abuse of the then 14/15-year-old actor took place. Peck was accused of molesting a child in 2003 and later convicted of a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16 — resulting in a 16-month sentence and registration as a sex offender.
“Now that Drake Bell has disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward,” Nickelodeon said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter prior to the series’ debut earlier this month.
Bell is slated to release his sixth studio album, Non-Stop Flight, later this year. The video for the album’s power pop first single, “I Kind of Relate,” features scenes that directly allude to the abuse some other difficult chapters in the singer/actor’s personal life. “I kind of relateI found beauty in my pain/ I’m running away/ From the abuse and all the shame,” he sings on the Beach Boys-esque tune. “‘Cause no one comes/ To my house anymore/ No one knocks on my door.”
Watch Bell’s TikTok video below.
Stories about sexual assault allegations can be traumatizing for survivors of sexual assault. If you or anyone you know needs support, you can reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website for more information.
Trigger warning: the following story contains descriptions of sexual assault.
Former Drake & Josh star Drake Bell details his alleged sexual abuse at the hands of his former childhood dialogue coach Brian Peck in the new Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the four-part show dives into the toxic work environment at Nickelodeon on sets run by Dan Schneider, who created such hit programs as Drake & Josh, The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious and Sam & Cat, iconic kids’ programs that launched the careers of such superstars as Ariana Grande, Amanda Bynes, Kenan Thompson, Victoria Justice and more.
In the series, Bell shares the details of his alleged abuse by Peck — who was convicted of sexually assaulting a Nickelodeon child actor in 2004 — for the first time, including allegations of abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate behavior involving underage stars and crew and alleged predatory behavior at the network. The series will premiere over two nights on ID on March 17 and 18.
In the third episode, Bell graphically recounts the alleged grooming and sexual abuse he suffered at Peck’s hands when he was 14- and 15-years-old. The series reveals that when Peck was accused of molesting a child in 2003 and later convicted of a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16 — resulting in a 16-month sentence and registration as a sex offender — it was then-15-year-old All That and The Amanda Show star Bell who was at the center of the criminal case and conviction.
Bell describes waking up on Peck’s couch one morning to the dialogue coach “sexually assaulting me. I froze and was in complete shock,” he says. “I had no idea what to do or how to react.” The series reportedly claims that Peck manipulated Bell’s mother and other adults to allow him “free rein” with the minor,” with Bell describing the abuse getting “worse and worse and worse and… worse, and I was just trapped and I had no way out.”
According to People, Bell, now 37, says he became close to Peck because they had “a lot of the same interests,” which he now realizes was “a bit calculated” on the part of his adult coach, who would often invite Bell to his house for acting lessons.
The abuse stopped after the mother of Bell’s then girlfriend asked why Peck wouldn’t stop calling the young actor that Bell began therapy, though at the time he was not yet ready to share his secret. “Then I realized it was so calculated. You (Peck) moved all the pieces into place. The whole thing was mental manipulation,” Bell said of the behavior by the dialogue coach, who appeared on screen as the character “Pickle Boy.”
People reported that Peck later became Bell’s manager, which caused a rift between the actor and his father, who was concerned about Peck accompanying Bell on auditions an hour away from where the young actor lived with his mother, sometimes necessitating overnight stays at Peck’s home.
Bell finally went to the police in 2003 and told his mother about the abuse, which included a “brutal” interview with two detectives in which Bell had to call Peck to get the coach to admit his guilt on a tapped phone line.
Soon after, Bell says, Schneider phoned him asking if the case was tied to the young actor. Feeling close to the boss, Bell says he confirmed the case was about him, at which point Schneider allegedly responded, “‘You don’t need to talk anymore about it. That’s all I needed to hear. Are you okay? Do you need anything from me? Anything you need.” Bell, who would then go on to topline his Drake & Josh series, says he doesn’t recall any other Nickelodeon executive reaching out to him at the time. Bell, who says his life was upended by the abuse, says in the series he began drinking and using drugs in the aftermath and in 2021 pleaded guilty to two charges tied to his online interactions with an underage fan; he was sentenced to two years’ probation and community service.
“Now that Drake Bell has disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward,” Nickelodeon said in a statement to THR.
The series claims that kid actors were made to wear suggestive costumes and take part in inappropriate sketches with pornographic undertones. All That actor Leon Frierson recalls playing a superhero character called Captain Big Nose in tights and underwear, with a prosthetic nose and matching noses on his shoulders.
“You can’t help but notice that it looks like penises and testicles on my shoulders,” he says, noting that one sketch included Captain Big Nose unleashing a giant sneeze caused by his allergy to asteroids, resulting in a messy goo on the face of a young woman. “The joke in that sketch is effectively a cum shot joke. It’s a cum shot joke for children,” culture writer Schaachi Koul says in the first episode. “Looking back, it’s very strange. Frankly, it was just uncomfortable. In the moment, I thought this is what we got to do to stay on the show, to stay in the cast and stay in the good graces of people that were higher up,” says Frierson, who also discusses that being close to “kingmaker” Schneider could mean an extra level of success for the young actors. “It was important to be on his good side, and he made it known who was on his good side,” he says.
The Amanda Show actress Raquel Lee Bolleau — who appeared on the show when she was 12-years-old — says that “you wanted Dan to like you, because otherwise he was mean to you,” describing the time Schneider allegedly “flipped out” when he thought a birthday cake on set for Bolleau was too big. “Dan yelled a lot. Dan was like a tornado. He’d show up and you’d say, what just happened? Dan showed up. The set wouldn’t feel the same when he’d leave, because everyone was on their toes, scared,” Bolleau says of the showrunner who others describe as tormenting, humiliating and yelling on set.
That theme is a recurring one in the series, in which the young actors say they feared that if they spoke up for themselves, or their parents did, they would never work again.
“Working for Dan was like being in an abusive relationship,” Christy Stratton, one of only two women writers on The Amanda Show, says in the docuseries. Stratton and the other female writer on the show, Jenny Kilgen, reportedly had to split a normal staff writer salary to get hired, with Stratton recalling that Schneider told her, “he didn’t think women were funny” and Kilgen adding, “He [Schneider] challenged us to name a funny female writer, and he said this to the writers in the writers room.”
Kilgen also says that Schneider allegedly had pornography on his computer screen and told her he’d put one of her sketches in the show in return for a massage. “He always presented it like a joke, and he’d be laughing while he said it. But you always felt like disagreeing with Dan, or standing up for yourself, could get you fired,” Kilgen says, recalling that one day in the writer’s room Schneider asked her to lean across her desk and simulate being sodomized.
The series claims that Schneider’s alleged abusive on-set behavior didn’t stop until after the rise of the #MeToo movement, with Nickelodeon eventually splitting with Schneider after “years of whispers and rumors.” That move came after a 2014 internal investigation about toxic conditions on the set of the Grande/Jennette McCurdy show Sam & Kat resulted in hands-on boss Schneider no longer interacting with the series cast while being sequestered in his office. Schneider — whose shows were moneymakers for the network — created two more series, Game Shakers and Henry Danger before being the subject of a second internal investigation by Nickelodeon, which cleared him of any “hint of sexual misconduct,” but which paved the way for his leave-taking in 2018.
“Everything that happened on the shows I ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults. All stories, dialogue, costumes, and makeup were fully approved by network executives on two coasts,” Schneider said in a statement to THR about the series. “A standards and practices group read and ultimately approved every script, and programming executives reviewed and approved all episodes. In addition, every day on set, there were always parents and caregivers and their friends watching us rehearse and film.”
In a statement about the series’ allegations of misconduct, Nickelodeon said, “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct. Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
Stories about sexual assault allegations can be traumatizing for survivors of sexual assault. If you or anyone you know needs support, you can reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website for more information.
Michael Jackson‘s name has surfaced in recently unsealed court documents tied to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — though the late pop star was not accused of any wrongdoing in the documents. The files, which were unsealed late Wednesday (Jan. 3), are part of the 2015 lawsuit victim Virginia Giuffre filed against Ghislaine Maxwell, the late financier’s girlfriend, who was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein recruit and sexually abuse underage victims. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years.
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The late King of Pop — who was acquitted in 2005 of allegations that he molested underage boys, and vehemently denied the allegations during his life — comes up during the deposition of a witness, which took place May 18, 2016, according to the documents obtained by Billboard. In the transcript, Giuffre’s lawyer Sigrid McCawley questions the witness — who is also an Epstein accuser — about the bold-faced names she had encountered with the financier, who was known for his connections to the rich, famous and powerful.
“Did you ever meet anybody famous when you were with Jeffrey?” McCawley asked.
“I met Michael Jackson,” the witness responded. “At his house in Palm Beach. At Jeffrey’s house in Palm Beach.”
McCawley also asked whether the witness had given Jackson a massage, which she denied doing.
Later during the deposition, Laura Menninger — an attorney for Maxwell — followed up the line of questioning regarding the 13-time Grammy winner: “You were asked about the famous people. You said you met Michael Jackson?”
Once again, the witness confirmed she had met the musician, and denied once more having ever given him a massage. There are no allegations of any wrongdoing on Jackson’s part in the documents.
Billboard has reached out to the Michael Jackson Estate for comment.
A judge ruled in December that the previously sealed documents could be made public. Since the files were unsealed Wednesday, people on social media have alleged the unsealed documents include several prominent musicians — but a search of the official court documents failed to confirm the social media rumors.
Epstein, 66, died by apparent suicide in August 2019. He was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York while awaiting trial. He had been charged with sexually abusing multiple underage girls.
Shaul Greenglick, an Israeli soldier and Eurovision Song Contest hopeful, has died in combat amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The 26-year-old singer was one of three soldiers recently reported dead by the Israel Defense Forces, per The Times of Israel, following Israel’s intensified ground operations in Palestine. The country has been in active war […]
Tiffany Haddish was arrested Friday (Nov. 24) and charged with driving under the influence, police said. The actor and comedian was detained after Beverly Hills police received a call about 5:45 a.m. Police said she appeared to be found slumped over the wheel of the vehicle while the car engine was still running. Haddish, an Emmy and Grammy […]
The scene at the Chipotle on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley at first looked much like any other Friday evening. Six good-looking guys in their early 20s sat around a table eating burritos, laughing and ribbing one another. They had landed at LAX that morning after a 16-hour flight, but despite their jet lag, the vibe was lively.
Then an emergency alert lit up one of their cellphones. Seconds later, a warning buzzed on another device. And then another, and another, and another, and yet one more. It was Oct. 6 — already Oct. 7 on the other side of the world in Israel — and the moment things got very real for as1one, the first-ever boy band comprising Israeli and Palestinian musicians.
The guys had arrived in Los Angeles from Tel Aviv, Israel, to lay down tracks for their forthcoming debut album — a trek made following months of visa coordination and more than a year since the group officially formed, after first being conceived in the United States years prior. The team behind as1one, led by longtime music executives Ken Levitan and James Diener, envisioned a Middle Eastern version of BTS, and in the effort to create it, Israeli and Palestinian casting directors had held auditions in major cities and tiny villages throughout Israel in 2021. (Auditions could not be held in the West Bank or Gaza due to logistical challenges.) A thousand young men auditioned; the six who were glued to their phones at the Sherman Oaks Chipotle had made it in.
There’s Sadik Dogosh, a 20-year-old Palestinian Bedouin Muslim from Rahat, Israel, with a piercing gaze and an acting background. Neta Rozenblat, a Jewish Israeli who’s 22 but looks younger, grew up in Tel Aviv, where he studied computer science before getting into singing, which led to a 2021 performance on the Israeli version of The X Factor. Hailing from Haifa, Palestinian Christian Aseel Farah, 22, is the group’s rapper and its self-proclaimed introvert. Twenty-three-year-old Jewish Israeli Nadav Philips grew up near Tel Aviv, idolizes Mariah Carey and used to perform as a wedding singer. Niv Lin, 22, is a Jewish Israeli from a desert town in southern Israel and played professional basketball before shifting to singing. (He also performed on The X Factor.) And Ohad Attia, also 22 and a Jewish Israeli, grew up in Tel Aviv singing and playing the guitar, a skill he flexes beautifully in the group.
On the surface, the six young men check all the usual boy group boxes: They strike the requisite balance between dreamy and adorable and sing ballads and bangers with heart-melting harmonies about girls, love and “dancing like the whole world is watching,” as one of their songs proclaims. But while each knew they were signing up for a boundary-pushing endeavor simply by joining a group composed of Palestinians and Israelis, they couldn’t have predicted that their message of unity would be so intensely tested before they had even released any music.
When the guys went to sleep at their L.A. rental house on the night of Oct. 6, they weren’t yet sure what to make of the alerts. They had all grown up accustomed to intermittent rocket warnings that often passed without incident. But by morning, it was clear what was happening back at home had little precedent: Hamas operatives had killed about 1,200 people throughout southern Israel in coordinated attacks on villages, kibbutzes and at a music festival. (“Niv lives not far from where that rave was, so he undoubtedly would have been there,” Diener says, adding that the woman Lin had just started dating, along with other friends, was killed in the attack.) Their scheduled sightseeing tour of L.A. was canceled. Instead, the guys spent the day frantically calling and texting with friends and family back home.
As news of the Oct. 7 attacks spread, as1one was given the option to fly back to Israel as soon as possible. But after talking among themselves, they decided to stay. “In the beginning, we really felt bad that we couldn’t do anything, that we couldn’t help our families and friends in Israel,” Attia says. “But then when you think about it, you really realize we’re on a mission and that we can be helpful. We can show the world.”
Ohad Attia
Austin Hargrave
The next day, as1one went to its scheduled studio session and met with songwriter-producers Jenna Andrews and Stephen Kirk, who together have credits on mega-hits like BTS’ “Butter” and “Permission To Dance.” Andrews and Kirk had already joined as1one for writing sessions in Israel, and that familiarity helped the duo channel the group’s intense emotions into music as the horrific news from Israel continued.
“The toughest moments were during the sessions,” Rozenblat says. “I was told about two friends that were killed, Niv was told about friends of his that were killed — a lot of us found out about really awful stuff during that session, not to mention that now there’s a whole war going on.”
But by the end of the session, they had a new song. Two-and-a-half weeks later, in a sun-drenched conference room in Century City, they play it for me through a beat-up Bluetooth speaker.
“What if we just stopped the world/Hold the phone/Faced the hurt/Take me home/We’re not built for this/We’re built for more/Forget the score/Show me what it’s like when we stop the world,” the sextet sings over a pulsing beat. It’s the kind of anthem that’s vocally reminiscent of the Backstreet Boys’ heyday and thematically evocative of — depending on how you’re listening — either a tumultuous romance or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“How crazy is it to get hugs from Palestinian friends when my Israeli friends died?” Lin says. “That’s our story.”
Sadik Dogosh
Austin Hargrave
As1one wasn’t necessarily intended to function as a singing six-man answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Seeing how K-pop and Latin music became global forces over the past few years, Levitan and Diener wanted to form a group from outside the Western world that they could build into a superstar act. They had experience with this caliber of artist: Levitan helped develop Kings of Leon, managed Bon Jovi and, as co-founder and president of Nashville-based Vector Management, has worked with Kesha, The B-52s, The Fray and more. Diener launched A&M Octone Records, where he developed acts including Maroon 5, and after the label sold its 50% share to Interscope Geffen A&M, he co-founded the music publishing and management firm Freesolo Entertainment.
Together they looked to Israel, a place, Diener says, where “we felt that what they have to say musically hadn’t really been given a shot on the world stage.” The pair weren’t seeking to create a group made up of Israelis and Palestinians — only to, as Levitan says, “leave no stone unturned” in their search for the country’s very best talent. They began traveling to Israel in late 2021, first to find the Israeli and Palestinian casting directors and consultants who could get them access to local music schools, conservatories and recording studios where they would scout talent. (They’ve been back to the country every two months since the first trip.) Ami Nir, an A&R executive at Universal Music Group in Israel, became their partner in the project and was crucial in creating connections.
Aseel Farah
Austin Hargrave
Even before meeting any prospective singers, the pair — who refer to themselves as the group’s founders and producers — encountered plenty of challenges: raising investment money, working in a foreign market (and during a global pandemic) and, above all, the historic tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. During one meeting, a potential Palestinian talent scout was so opposed to the idea of a mixed band that she flicked her cigarette ashes at Levitan and Diener.
“We were really working from negative one, not even at zero,” Levitan says of the meeting. “She was very pessimistic.” But as the two explained their history in the business and their vision for the group, the scout uncrossed her arms and listened — and, shortly thereafter, joined the team. Such unlikely changes of heart happened again and again at meetings throughout the country. “I think people felt our sincerity,” Diener says. “They didn’t feel like this was in any way a gimmick or a pretext.”
As Diener explains, assembling a group from this part of the world inherently meant being “confronted by the question of, ‘Are you willing to put together a group that may be mixed?’ ” He and Levitan agreed that they were — but that it would require choosing “the right guys who could handle and appreciate that mix of talent within the band,” Diener says.
As they narrowed down the talent pool during auditions, Levitan and Diener met with families of potential members, selling parents, siblings and extended relatives on the idea, often through translators, and many times while sitting around the family’s kitchen table after a meal.
Nadav Philips
Austin Hargrave
By this point, they had also enlisted a documentary crew to film the process; cameras were put in place after people close to Levitan and Diener suggested what they were doing “might just be historic,” Diener recalls. Ultimately, the local Israeli team was replaced with a crew from Paramount+, which has since shot hundreds of hours of footage for a forthcoming five-episode docuseries produced by James Carroll (Waco: American Apocalypse, Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer). “It’s in no way a reality series,” Levitan says. “This is something much more thoughtful and cinematic.”
The cameras were rolling during the final phase of the audition process: a May 2022 boy band boot camp in Neve Shalom, an Israeli village founded in 1969 by Israeli Jews and Arabs to demonstrate that the two groups could live together in peace. Here, the guys played instruments, posed for photo shoots, showed off their dexterity with social media and sang together. “You’d be singing to yourself, then someone standing on the other side of the road would be doing a harmony with you,” Attia recalls.
A psychologist was on site as well, not only to ensure potential members were mentally prepared for the demanding work schedule ahead, but also to weigh in on whether they would fit well within the unique mixed-group dynamic. “There were [guys] we really wanted to work with,” Diener says, “but as their community and parents became more aware of what this was going to look like, they couldn’t endorse it in the same way they’d endorsed the audition process, so we lost a few really good prospects.” (Levitan adds that these prospects wouldn’t have necessarily made it into the group.)
A year-and-a-half after starting the scouting process, Levitan and Diener had settled on the right six guys — it was just by circumstance that four were Jewish Israelis and two Palestinian.
When Levitan and Diener Zoomed Dogosh to tell him he had been accepted, the camera crew caught him jumping around so enthusiastically that his microphone broke. “Getting accepted in the band, it was like a fever dream,” says Rozenblat, who had been tracking 25,000 steps a day while pacing around his house waiting for the news.
Neta Rozenblat
Austin Hargrave
Recording started shortly thereafter, with the guys intermittently traveling from their respective homes to a Tel Aviv studio. Philips and Lin say they had never spoken with a Palestinian person until joining as1one — a name that the guys chose from a few options that the team had come up with and that is pronounced “as one.” Over time, camaraderie grew, and by the time they gave their first live performance at a private event for TikTok Israel eight months after their inception, they were looking, sounding, moving and working the room like a band. (Levitan and Diener often use the words “brotherhood” and “unity” when describing the group’s bond.)
The bonding process ramped up in August, when as1one traveled to London to record at Abbey Road Studios with Nile Rodgers, who plays guitar on one of the songs written by Andrews and Kirk. (The session came together after Diener sent Rodgers the group’s cover of Rodgers’ Daft Punk collaboration, “Get Lucky.”) After they wrapped, Rodgers gave his guitar to as1one guitarist Attia, who says he was “literally shaking” and immediately FaceTimed his mother to tell her. (Overjoyed for her son, she cried.)
On Oct. 5, as1one boarded a flight for what was meant to be a monthlong trip to L.A. The scheduling turned out to be prescient: The team had considered flying the guys out a few days later — which, had it happened, would have put the project on perpetual hold amid a war that to date has killed around 1,200 Israelis (and claimed an estimated 240 hostages) and more than 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to reports from Gaza’s Health Ministry (an agency that, as The New York Times has reported, “is part of the Hamas government in Gaza but employs civil servants who predate Hamas’ control of the territory”).
While their families remain in the increasingly precarious situation abroad, as1one is in L.A. indefinitely, living in a rented house in Sherman Oaks with Andrew Berkowitz (the group’s executive in charge of talent who was involved in casting and has more than 30 years’ experience in artist promotion at labels including RCA and Arista) and traveling to various local studios making music. “Our policy with them is whatever they need, including if they need to go home, we will make that happen,” Diener says. “There’s a lot of people keeping their eyes on them.”
The group has recorded seven songs in the four weeks since its arrival, with collaborators including Andrews, Kirk, Danja (Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right,” Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack,” Britney Spears’ “Gimme More”), Justin Tranter (a go-to co-writer for Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Maroon 5 and Imagine Dragons) and Y2K (Doja Cat’s “Attention”).
Niv Lin
Austin Hargrave
The songs as1one performs for me live in this conference room include a stirring ballad with lyrics fashioned in boilerplate boy band parlance (“I wouldn’t be me without you!”), rendered in gorgeous six-part harmony and delivered with passion. (They close their eyes a lot while singing.) When the guys launch into a peppier, sexier jam about being hot-blooded animals on the dancefloor, it’s easy enough to imagine a stadium full of fans screaming along. The songs are clever and well-constructed, and the melodies stay in my head long after the meeting is over.
The guys, along with Levitan and Diener, are quick to clarify that they’re less a “boy band” and more a “male pop group,” given that they play instruments (Attia is on acoustic and electric guitar, keyboard and drums; Lin plays keys and acoustic guitar; Philips plays keyboard; Rozenblat plays keyboard and acoustic guitar; Farah is on percussion; and Dogosh is learning piano) and don’t plan on performing choreography. And Levitan and Diener expect that the group’s story will attract a wider-than-usual fan base for an act of this kind. Still, as the duo sees it, their core fan base will likely be — in the high-pitched squealing tradition of groups like *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys — what Levitan calls “a very, very excited and active female audience.”
It’s not yet clear when the first as1one single will be released, and the group hasn’t yet announced a label signing. (Levitan and Diener say they can’t disclose details on label negotiations beyond that “there’s real interest in the band.”) They’re backed by a 30-person team and 15 lawyers representing each member individually and collectively across trademarks, music, film and general counsel, and repped by WME, where they also have film and TV representation. That documentary crew lives with them, still capturing their every move — from jam sessions at the house (where there is a “No harmonicas after 11 p.m.” policy) to the much darker and more complex moments of their recent history.
All this infrastructure is being forged with a singular vision: to make as1one the biggest musical group in the world. “I mean, seriously,” Levitan says. “That’s our goal.”
The stakes for as1one were always high, but they’ve of course become significantly higher over the last six weeks. Eight of the group’s friends and family members have been killed in the conflict. It would be overwhelming for anyone, and certainly must be for the six young men now living 7,500 miles from their home, where a brutal war is being fought. But whether through coaching or genuine belief, the guys present a silver-lining attitude.
“There’s no way to describe how bad you feel,” Philips says. “Your first instinct is to go back and be with your friends and family. Then a few days later, you realize there’s no better service to the world than what we’re doing, and it just gives us a bigger purpose.”
“We don’t want to be political,” adds rapper Farah. “We just want to be humanitarian.”
From left: Sadik Dogosh, Ohad Attia, Niv Lin, Nadav Philips, Aseel Farah and Neta Rozenblat of as1one.
Austin Hargrave
They also don’t want to be inextricably linked to the conflict that, like it or not, has defined their formation. “One of the things we’ve told them,” Levitan says, “especially with everything going on now, [is that these events] can be an influence [on the music] but just can’t be directly related, because [the music] has got to be broad enough where everybody can relate to it.”
Right now, though, the inherent message of an Israeli-Palestinian group named as1one may give the act a greater meaning than Diener and Levitan could have ever imagined, regardless of what the guys are singing about. Conversations now aren’t just about being the biggest band in the world, but about the Nobel Peace Prize.
“You may say it’s a pie-in-the-sky kind of goal,” says Levitan. “But what this has become is that important.”
This story originally appeared in the Nov. 18, 2023, issue of Billboard.
