For Cheyenne Roundtree, an investigative reporter at Rolling Stone, the civil lawsuit that dropped on Sean “Diddy” Combs in November 2023 seemed to come from nowhere. Filed by his ex-partner, the singer Cassie Ventura, it alleged that Combs had beaten and raped her, plied her with drugs and forced her into sexual encounters with male sex workers throughout their decade-long relationship.
Roundtree, along with much of the world’s media, was shocked. “I’d grown up in the era of Diddy and Cassie and viewed them as this power couple,” she says. “Her hit Me & U was my song. Diddy was this mogul – I knew him for the music – and she was this style inspiration, this beautiful, talented woman living an amazing life.”
