Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well.

Let's talk quickly about Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who's obviously a big focus in the music industry right now, mostly due to a leaked video that came out this past weekend. The footage dates back to 2016 and features Diddy being violent, doesn't even begin to describe it, toward his girlfriend at the time, Cassie Ventura. Cassie, if you guys remember, filed a lawsuit against Diddy for such behavior and then some not too long ago. However, Diddy ended up settling the lawsuit just the day after it was filed.

Now, with the release of this video, it's painfully clear that his motivations to settle this lawsuit very quickly had much to do with just getting it out of the news cycle so that there wouldn't be any presumption of his guilt. Even though the LA Police Department announced that they actually cannot arrest Diddy for what he did in that video because it was so long ago, the statute of limitations has passed. Diddy's legal issues past this point, presumably are not over, because if you guys remember, my last video on Diddy was about his most recent lawsuit, which was filed against him by a producer who worked on his last album and made a litany of just wild claims throughout the lawsuit. Not wild because they seem out of the bounds of reality, wild because of what this person was claiming to have witnessed and experienced, sometimes at the hands of other celebrities, some in the music industry, some not. But also a lot of the pictures and video evidence that is cited in the lawsuit. It seems pretty extensive and well put together.

But now, let's do a bit of an update in light of this Cassie video surfacing now, as I haven't had the opportunity to comment on Diddy's behavior since the filing of that lawsuit. For the most part, Diddy has been laying very low. When he does crop up on social media, he's doing everything he can to maintain his innocence, even putting up this ridiculous post just days before the Cassie video coming out where he's talking about, 'Oh, time tells truth. Yeah, with enough passage of time, my innocence will be proven.' Well, now this video has come out and it's telling a very different story. I'm sure the lawyer of the plaintiff in the producer suit is seeing all of this unfolding and potentially seeing a payday, because now with the Cassie video, we are establishing a pattern of behavior here.

In this lawsuit, whether it's going to go to trial or it's going to be settled, it's still in front of Diddy right now. Clearly a hot potato he doesn't want to deal with, but he's going to have to touch it eventually, which is why, and I'm theorizing here, he recently came out with this apology video in reaction to this violent outburst that is now seeing the light of day. This very piss poor apology Diddy has released onto the internet is just another performance, another attempt at manipulating the public perception of things. He's settled the lawsuit with Cassie. The LAPD has, again, announced Diddy can't be arrested for any of this.

As far as his music career goes and his place in the music industry, there's no real reason for him to try to protect his public image at this point or save it. For what? He's made his money. He has his millions. He has his life pretty much set until the day that he dies. There's no real reason, legally or personally, for Diddy at this point to address anything that happened in that video. But remember, because he has this other lawsuit in front of him and he doesn't want to enter into it on a weak footing, he is in this apology video acting like his behavior there was something that happened in the past.

'Oh, that happened a long time ago. I hit rock bottom, but then I went to therapy. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.' He's not saying sorry for any specific behavior, and he's certainly not apologizing to any specific person. Keep that in mind. He's just generally apologizing without naming the thing he's apologizing for, the people he's apologizing to. It's just a general sorry. A reminder that this behavior, definitely something that happened almost 10 years ago. Not anything recent, not anything current, not anything that I would be getting currently sued for.

This video that Diddy put out, I'm not really sure if there's a whole lot to say about it. Other than that, it's just a YouTuber-level terrible apology where the dude is clearly acting really remorseful in the way that a narcissistic teenager would when they get caught smoking weed.

"It's so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life. Sometimes you got to do that. I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now."

'Oh, man. I'm so sorry, man. I was going through a dark time,' which is honestly just like very self-centered and disgusting framing for this apology. Like, the entire world sees you mercilessly beating a woman, and you're going to go on about how that was the worst time in your life. 'Yeah, man, the rough patch I was going through there was just...'

I think this update to this situation can end there, as again, clearly, with the release of this video, Diddy is a complete and utter dumpster fire. Believe me, I would like to say more about this but this would most likely get taken down. I'm, again, looking forward to seeing how this impacts the lawsuit his former producer filed against him. And on top of it, I think this is going to create a situation where anybody who has suffered similar treatment, abuse at the hands of Diddy is going to come out of the woodwork now, now that we literally see undeniable proof on video that he has reacted to and apologized for.

At this point this seems like a very clear pattern of behavior. And with this video out and about now, who out there in their right mind is going to deny your experience? Clearly this guy is a monster, and that doesn't even begin to describe the half of it. We can leave it there.

Anthony Fantano. Buh. Forever.