Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Accused of Years of Sexual Abuse, Coercion and Violence by Bad Boy Co-Founder Kirk Burrowes

Mar. 15, 2025

Sean Combs.Photo:Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Kirk Burrowes, the co-founding partner and former president of Bad Boy Entertainment, is suingSean “Diddy” Combsover what he’s calling a “deeply disturbing pattern” of sexual abuse, coercion, violence and intimidation that spanned more than a decade.

In the complaint, Combs, 55, is accused of subjecting Burrowes to “repeated sexual harassment, physical aggression and forced compliance with degrading sexual acts” — including “unwanted sexual advances” such as “nudity, sexual overtones, voyeurism and acts of exhibitionism,” some of which took place during what he had believed to be business meetings.

The longtime music mogul is accused of escalating the “campaign of control, resorting to physical violence, blackmail, career sabotage and financial extortion,” which the complaint alleges included “forced coercion” so Burrowes would give up a 25% ownership stake in Bad Boy Entertainment.

Sean Combs in 2023.Paras Griffin/Getty

Paras Griffin/Getty

Burrowes previously filed a suit against Combs over an alleged 1996 incident in 2003,  but the earlier complaint was eventually dismissed.

Burrowes' Feb. 28 complaint comes two days after he filed an additional legal action against Combs' mom, Janice Combs, claiming she unlawfully took control of his 25% stake in Bad Boy following Combs' alleged threat of physical violence.

Combs is also facing federal criminal chargessuch as sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, to which he has pleaded not guilty.The music mogul is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centerin Brooklyn with a trial set forMay.

Former Bad Boy Records President Kirk Burrowes.The Art Of Dialogue/YouTube

The Art Of Dialogue/YouTube

The complaint states that Burrowes served as both the chief operating officer and general manager of Bad Boy following its development in the 1990s. It alleges that Combs engaged in sexual coercion and exhibitionism in their workplace between 1992 and 1994, allegedly forcing Burrowes to watch as he engaged in “sexual acts with employees, interns, prospective artists and third parties at the Bad Boy Entertainment office, reinforcing his control through humiliation and intimidation.”

Combs would allegedly summon his associate “under false pretenses” via a company intercom, per the complaint, having Burrowes enter a room where Combs would allegedly be “receiving oral sex or engaging in other lewd acts” — which the filing calls his attempt at “psychologically breaking down Plaintiff’s resistance and establishing his submission.”

He would make “inappropriate and sexually suggestive remarks” about Burrowes' body and also claimed that Burrowes being present for his sexual activities was “part of the ‘culture’ of the entertainment industry and a requirement for success,” the complaint alleges.

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The complaint claims that such actions escalated to “physical coercion and forced submission” between 1995 and 1996.

This includes a 1995 business trip where Combs is alleged to have demanded Burrowes watch him masturbate, another incident in late 1995 when Combs allegedly pinned him “down onto a bed and [simulated] intercourse until he ejaculated” and other allegations of him grabbing his associate’s genitals.

He is also alleged to have requested Burrowes “give him hand jobs, blow jobs and to use objects on him anally,” per the complaint.

Sean Combs in 2023.Prince Williams/WireImage

Prince Williams/WireImage

Elsewhere in the complaint, Combs is again accused of having “stormed” into Burrowes' office with a baseball bat in an effort to get him to “sign over his 25% stake in Bad Boy Entertainment, Inc. or face violent repercussions.” Burrowes then “signed away his ownership stake without receiving any financial compensation” in 1996, with Combs allegedly having taken “active measures to erase” his legacy at the company, per the filing.

Burrowes also accuses Combs of “post-termination harassment and blacklisting,” taking place as recently as 2022. He is alleged to have been “personally contacting industry executives, warning them against working with Plaintiff and labeling him as untrustworthy, effectively cutting off his career prospects.”

Additional accusations in the complaint are more recent, including a claim that Combs' security detail surrounded and threatened him around 2013 or 2014 in New York City before Combs allegedly grabbed his buttocks and pulled him “close to his body” to simulate a bearhug, and another alleged incident that took place at a Diana Ross birthday celebration in 2019.

Burrowes' complaint against Combs — filed on Feb. 28 — ultimately alleges a “history and propensity for violence,” with Burrowes requesting a jury trial and seeking to be provided “with redress for the physical, emotional, and financial devastation inflicted upon him.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.

source: people.com