Diddy has filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against a TV network and two individuals, accusing them of launching a calculated smear campaign against him.
According to a complaint obtained by Complex, the music mogul filed the First Amendment Complaint on Wednesday (Aug. 6) in U.S. District Court against Courtney Burgess, Ariel Mitchell, and Nexstar Media, Inc., the parent company of NewsNation. The suit alleges they conspired to fabricate and spread false claims to damage his reputation.
“This case is about Defendants’ willful schemes to fabricate and broadcast outrageous lies concerning Mr. Combs and then to leverage those falsehoods to enrich themselves, gain social media fame, promote their brands, strip Mr. Combs of his reputation and livelihood, and jeopardize his right to a fair trial,” the filing states.
The lawsuit claims Burgess “falsely claimed that he possessed videos of Mr. Combs involved in the sexual assault of celebrities and minors,” and accuses NewsNation of “recklessly” airing and amplifying these statements despite allegedly knowing they were “probably false.”
It also alleges that Mitchell — Burgess’ attorney, who is facing a Florida bar complaint over accusations of bribing a witness in another case — repeated these false claims on national television, including stating that a police report supported allegations Diddy raped a woman in March 2018. The suit says no such report exists, and that the actual police report her client filed accused two white men, not Diddy, with police later deeming those claims “unsubstantiated.”
“As a result, millions of people have come to believe in the made-up ‘evidence’ that Defendants have falsely described and vouched for,” the complaint reads. “The torrent of lies, and the immeasurable harm and prejudice it has caused to Mr. Combs must be remedied.”
Diddy is requesting a jury trial and at least $100 million in damages.
