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Universal Music Group and Lucian Grainge have been dropped from Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones' sexual abuse lawsuit against Diddy.
Per Billboard, UMG and its CEO were dismissed from the lawsuit Jones filed in February, which alleged that the company and Grainge "aided and abetted" in abuse perpetuated by the embattled Bad Boy Records founder. Attorneys for UMG argued the accusations against the company were "offensively false" and would seek legal penalties against Jones' lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn.
On Monday, Blackburn said he had "concluded that there is no legal basis for the claims and allegations that were made against the UMG defendants."
He asked for the two parties to be dropped from the lawsuit immediately. Donald Zakarin, lead attorney for UMG, agreed with Blackburn's sworn declaration.
"As we have repeatedly said from our very first communication with counsel for the plaintiff on March 4, 2024, there was no basis, not legal and not factual, for the claims and accusations that were alleged," Zakarin wrote in a court filing on Tuesday. "The UMG defendants should never have been named in any of these complaints and we should never have been required to make motions to dismiss the complaints in this action."
In a post shared on Instagram, Diddy seemingly responded with an image that reads, "Time tells truth."
When Billboard reached Blackburn for comment, he accused journalist Bill Donahue of being "a mouthpiece" for Combs' attorney Shawn Holley.
Jones, a former producer and videographer for Diddy, claimed in the lawsuit that Combs and several of his associates sexually assaulted him. Other defendants include Diddy's son Justin Combs, Ethiopia Habtemariam, Kristina Khorram, Chalice Recording Studios, Love Records, Motown Records, and Combs Global Enterprises.
Cuba Gooding Jr. is also named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit. In a recent interview with Patrick Bet-David, the actor denied the accusations. "This guy who’s suing him [is] going after the money, man. I’m sure, and by the way, I don’t know P. Diddy’s life. I don’t know what he’s going through," he told Bet-David. "We were acquaintances, just like I just showed you. Two–three times I’ve seen him."
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