(NewsNation) — Sean “Diddy” Combs took to social media to apologize for his “inexcusable actions” after a video of him appearing to assault his ex-girlfriend was released, but some are doubting his sincerity.
While several people have come forward with allegations and lawsuits against the music mogul recently, Natania Reuben has been sounding the alarm for Diddy for 25 years after she was shot in the face outside a Manhattan nightclub, an alleged act Combs was never charged for.
Reuben shared her story with NewsNation’s Brian Entin, saying Combs’ apology for the video of the alleged assault of Cassie Ventura means nothing to her.
“It has zero value to me. First and foremost, it is the classic scripted publicist apology. ‘I take accountability. I was disgusted. I went to rehab.’ I mean, how many times have we heard this narrative through the annals of time?” Reuben said.
“Secondly, it carries no weight to me because he never apologizes to Cassie directly. It was all about him. ‘I’m disgusted,’ ‘I hit a hard time.’ It was all about him,” she added.
Reuben has spent the past 25 years trying to get justice for the night she says Combs shot her in the face at the club. She told NewsNation she doesn’t believe Diddy was properly charged, and she continues to fear for her life.
After the 1999 shooting, Reuben said she faced hatred and backlash from the public, some of whom were saying she was “trying to take down a good Black man.”
“I was raised on cultural pride and racial pride. I believe in that wholeheartedly. But what I was also raised was to speak truth to power,” Reuben said. “I was a victim. I got shot in my face. How am I trying to take down hip-hop? I’m a student of hip-hop.
“I am a Black woman. What do I have to gain by doing that? I made two Black men out of my womb. Why would I do that? Why would I set out to destroy someone who, by all accounts, has done amazing things? But now, with hindsight being 20/20, we can look back on those things. And we know they were … at the cost of somebody’s life or safety.”
On Dec. 27, 1999, shots rang out at Club New York in Manhattan. Three people, including Reuben, were struck by gunfire, sending all other clubgoers into a panic, according to a New York Times report. The victims of the shooting were reported as innocent bystanders and didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries, the report said.
But while Combs, his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and rapper Jamal “Shyne” Barrow were all arrested in connection to the shooting, only Barrow was officially charged. Both Combs and Lopez were arrested on possible weapons charges but were ultimately not charged in connection to the shooting.
