The legal woes of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs could trigger a #MeToo moment for the world of hip hop, according to a recent report.
This week, Homeland Security officials raided the mogul’s residences in connection to a sex trafficking investigation. The raids occurred at the Diddy’s mansion in the Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles as well as Miami Beach.
“Hip hop hasn’t really had its MeToo moment, and should these claims be proven in court, it feels like this could be a trigger for that,” Thomas Hobbs, a music writer and rap critic, told Britain’s The Telegraph.
“It speaks to a wider culture of moguls that felt they were untouchable, throwing parties filled with women, and thinking that was part of the lifestyle. So is this just the tip of the iceberg? Diddy is connected to so many hip hop legends,” Hobbs added.
“You wonder how many people gave him a pass or enabled toxic behaviours.”
A lawyer for Diddy said this week that the searches of the rapper’s Los Angeles and Miami properties by federal authorities were “a gross use of military-level force” and that Combs is “innocent and will continue to fight” to clear his name.
The #MeToo movement proved to be an extinction-level event for the entertainment and media industry when the Harvey Weinstein scandal kicked off an industry-wide round of accusations and score-settling that claimed numerous careers.
Others who lost their careers included Les Moonves, Woody Allen, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey, and Charlie Rose.
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