Names and faces
■ Sean “Diddy” Combs asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a “false and hideous claim” that was filed too late under the law. “Plaintiff cannot allege what day or time of year the alleged incident occurred, but miraculously remembers other salacious details, despite her alleged incapacitated condition,” says the filing, which also names Combs-owned corporations as defendants. The lawsuit was filed in December and amended in March by the woman who now lives in Canada whose name wasn’t disclosed in the filing. The victim said she was a Michigan 11th-grader when Harve Pierre, then-president of Bad Boy Entertainment record label, Combs and a man she didn’t know took turns raping her. The defense filing asks that the case be “dismissed now, with prejudice” — meaning it cannot be refiled. One of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Michael Willemin, said in a statement in response to the filing: “Today’s motion is just a desperate attempt by Combs to avoid accountability.” The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. The new deadlines established by that law expired, but the suit was brought under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law. That city law also allows accusers to file civil complaints involving sexual assault claims after the statute of limitations has run out. But Combs’ motion argues that suit was filed too late, because the city law is preempted by the state law, whose provisions mean the lawsuit needed to be filed by August 2021 to be timely. The amended version of the lawsuit filed in March sought to address some of these issues, but Combs’ attorneys argue that it didn’t go far enough. The judge has ruled the woman will need to reveal her name if the lawsuit moves forward after this challenge.
■ Drake’s Toronto mansion has seen its second trespasser in two days. The incidents come amid the rapper’s beef with Kendrick Lamar. Since Lamar used an aerial photo of Drake’s home as the cover art for his latest diss track last week, there have been two trespassing incidents at the home and one reported drive-by shooting that injured one of Drake’s security guards Tuesday. The next day, a man tried to break into the mansion and was detained by security personnel at the scene. He was later taken in by Toronto police and held under Canada’s Mental Health Act, The Canadian Press reported. Police were contacted Thursday about a trespasser on the property. The person got into an altercation with security and was hospitalized, TMZ reported. It’s unclear whether Drake was home during the incidents and police have not said whether any of the encounters have been linked to the ongoing feud with Lamar.