Frightened celebrities are paying Sean “Diddy” Combs’ alleged victims to stay quiet, according to R&B singer Ray J, who suggested high-profile stars fear that their names will get leaked to the public.
“I’m hearing about artists paying victims to keep their names out of it,” Ray J told TMZ founder Harvey Levin in the first episode of the outlet’s documentary, The Downfall of Diddy: Inside the Freak-Offs, released on Tuesday.
“Here’s what I do know, people do catch-and-kills all day,” Ray J continued, explaining that a “catch-and-kill” refers to when “somebody has a truth, somebody pays you to keep it quiet, and hopefully that money you got paid secures your happiness while you watch the lie continue to succeed.”
After being asked if he knows of instances in which alleged victims are going to celebrities saying, “Give me money and I won’t talk,” Ray J responded by implying that it is “the other way around,” suggesting the stars are actually the ones going to the alleged victims saying, “I’ll give you money, please don’t talk.”
Levin then asked the singer to clarify whether he knows of celebrities who are reaching out to alleged victims “who might sue them,” saying, “I want to cut you off at the pass, give you some money, lets just squash this,” to which Ray J replied, “That’s what a settlement’s called right?”
“But it really was: ‘Don’t say what you know. Here’s some money to be quiet.’ And I’m saying that,” Ray J added.
Levin chimed in, asking Ray J whether he knows if what he “just described” is “going on now,” to which the singer responded, “Yes.”
Ray J, who has a friendship with Combs, went on to reveal that high-profile people have been contacting him to discuss their interactions with the disgraced music mogul, likely due to fear of their names possibly getting leaked.
“They want to talk to me about what happened to them. They call me. They feel like they can trust me,” Ray J explained. “They want to tell me about certain things that happened with them and Diddy.”
The TMZ founder asked if these unnamed celebrities are calling him “because they’ve had some affiliation with Diddy that they don’t want to come out and they think you might be the vessel for it coming out? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes,” Ray J answered. “That’s exactly what I’m saying, and I don’t even know why I just said it, but I said it. So, so what? Now they got to be mad. Come get me. Fuck it.”
Levin then asked if these celebrities “were specific about what they did with Diddy,” to which the singer replied, “I don’t want to say. I think I said too much.”
“Diddy has befriended some of the biggest names in entertainment for decades, yet none of those stars have come out to defend him. Not one. That may say less about Diddy and more about Hollywood,” Levin noted in TMZ’s other documentary, The Downfall of Diddy, released earlier this year.
CUNY professor Marc Lamont Hill added, “Hollywood is eerily and noticeably quiet about all of the Diddy controversy right now. And I think it’s a very simple reason for it: people who live in glass houses don’t want to throw stones.”
As Breitbart News reported, Combs has been in jail since September 16 after he was arrested following a federal indictment accusing him of more than a decade of abusing, threatening, and coercing women and others, racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes.
The indictment included allegations that Combs had hosted what are known as “Freak Offs,” which involved days-long sexual activity with prostitutes and others who were given “a variety of controlled substances” by the music mogul in order to keep them “obedient and compliant.”
Combs allegedly arranged, directed, masturbated during, and electronically recorded “Freak Offs,” and would give victims “IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use,” and would use the recordings “as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence” of the victims.
The music mogul has since been denied bail three times as he awaits his upcoming sex trafficking trial, set for May 5.
He is also facing at least 120 separate lawsuits brought by Buzbee Law Firm and AVA Law Group on behalf alleged victims who are accusing Combs, his associates, and other entities of a laundry list of crimes.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
