"I'm not a rag doll": Court revisits Cassie and Diddy's exchange after rapper's apology following InterContinental hotel altercation

During Diddy’s trial on June 17, 2025, the alleged conversations between the rapper and his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura were read by the Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson. CNN posted the live updates from the trial, stating that the text messages were sent around the time of the assault incident in 2016.

The surveillance footage of the assault was also acquired by CNN last year, where Diddy was spotted reportedly hitting Cassie Ventura. While Sean had already apologized for the video in 2024, he said “sorry” to Cassie in a text a few days after the incident.

One of the text messages sent by Cassie to Sean Combs featured the singer and actress seemingly addressing the impact of the alleged assault, saying that she had “crazy bruising.” Ventura also wrote:

“I would be a dummy to subject myself to that possibly happening again. When you get fu*ked up the wrong way, you always want to show me that you have the power and you knock me around. I’m not a rag doll, I’m someone’s child.”

According to People magazine, Cassie Ventura opened up on the alleged incident when she appeared to testify in the first week of the trial. The Empire star told the court at the time that she was allegedly injured and had a black eye after the hotel assault, which was giving Ventura a lot of pain.

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Diddy and Cassie Ventura’s text messages were read on the first week of the trial

Cassie was also one of the witnesses who appeared to testify against Sean Combs at his ongoing trial. While she went on the stand on the fourth day of her testimony, the jury members also read some text messages at the time that were sent a few days after the hotel incident, as per People magazine. Diddy told Ventura that he was feeling “h*rny”, following which Cassie wrote in her response:

“You are? What made you feel that way?”

Sean Combs replied that he had been feeling it since Friday, referring to the date May 6, 2016.

According to People magazine, the conversation seemingly took a different turn when Cassie referred to the alleged assault, saying that they needed a “different vibe” compared to what she felt on the day of the incident. Diddy replied by writing:

“F**k Friday lol. I don’t even want to do that again.”

Eddy Garcia, a security guard for the InterContinental Hotel, also testified at the trial earlier this month. Eddy claimed that he allegedly received an amount of $100,000 from Sean Combs for the assault video. According to The Independent, Sean did not want the footage to be revealed to anyone, and Eddy received the money in a brown paper bag.

In addition, Garcia told the court that he was initially contacted by Kristina Khorram, an assistant for Diddy. Kristina reportedly asked for a copy of the footage from Eddy. Although Garcia claimed that he did not have the footage, he allegedly offered some help by contacting his supervisor, Bill Medrano, after Sean said he would pay for the clip.

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As per the latest update, Sean Combs’ trial has been adjourned on June 18, 2025. According to USA Today, the decision was taken by Judge Arun Subramanian after a jury member reportedly suffered from vertigo-like symptoms while traveling to the court.

Edited by Arunava Dutta