‘P Diddy’ allegation hotline overwhelmed with 12,000 callers in just 24 hours says lawyer representing accusers

5 October 2024, 18:11 | Updated: 16 October 2024, 09:32

A hotline set up for people to make allegations against Sean 'Diddy' Combs has received thousands of calls in just 24 hours, a lawyer for his accusers has said.

Combs' 120 accusers are expected to sue the 54-year-old American rapper and movie mogul - after alleging years of sexual misconduct perpetrated by him.

The news comes after lawyer Tony Buzbee, whose firm is representing more than 100 alleged victims, set-up a hotline for callers to provide more information about the rapper’s alleged sex abuse crimes.

Read more: Rapper ‘P Diddy’ faces sexual misconduct allegations from 120 new people, lawyer says

Read more: 120 people accuse Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of sexual misconduct, lawyer says

The Houston-based lawyer told Law & Crime that following the opening of the hotline “the floodgates really opened” and the volume of calls has been “overwhelming” and “shocking”.

The Bad Boy Records owner – who also goes by the monikers Puff Daddy and P Diddy - was arrested in Manhattan in September on suspicion of offences related to allegations of sex trafficking that span a 25-year period.

The mogul is also accused of drugging and raping minors as young as nine.

Just 10 days after Buzbee opened the hotline, there had be 3,200 calls logged.

Following a press conference on Tuesday, the hotline was then swamped with 12,000 calls.

“So, our Herculean task is to try to sift through every one of these calls and make sure that we’re identifying those who are victims and those who are witnesses and collect evidence.”

Combs’ lawyer Erica Wolff has said that he "cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus".

"That said, Mr Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors.”

Sufficient evidence has reportedly been gathered to file lawsuits for 120 of the rapper’s alleged victims.

25 of them have claimed to have been underage at the time - including a nine, 14, and 15-year-old.

The allegations detail accusations of impropriety at Combs’ famous ‘White Parties’, ‘Freak Off’ parties, and album release events.

Buzbee said that many of Hollywood’s elite would have been aware of Combs’ alleged salacious behaviour at the time.

“I have no doubt that there are people right now who know that they were somehow involved in this, who are now scrubbing their social media, who are searching their memories, who are deleting their texts, probably deleting pictures and trying to distance themselves from this, and we know who they are or we will find out who they are.”

Earlier this year, a video showing Combs attacking his former girlfriend and singer Cassie was publicised. The rapper called his behaviour towards Cassie “inexcusable”.

Combs has been imprisoned at Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn since pleading not guilty on September 17 to charges that he coerced women into drugged-up sexual performances with male sex workers.

The music mogul has also been charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking - pleading not guilty to the accusations.