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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Before CNN published hotel surveillance footage of Sean Combs assaulting Cassie Ventura in May 2024, two earlier accounts often cited in hindsight had already drawn attention to his behavior—but they were not the same kind of warning. Usher recalled seeing “some things” while staying with Combs as a teenager, without identifying Ventura or describing the assault later shown on video. Former head of security Roger Bonds said he had personally seen Combs get physical with women on several occasions. Neither account established that celebrities broadly knew about abuse or disclosed the specific 2016 incident.
What Usher said about staying with Combs
Usher’s remarks came in a 2016 interview with Howard Stern, years before the surveillance video became public. Usher had lived with Combs as a teenager in 1994. In a 2024 recap, Us Weekly quoted him saying, “I got a chance to see some things.”
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The remark is often recirculated as a hint that Usher knew about Combs’s treatment of women. Its wording, as reported, is general: it does not specify what Usher saw, identify Ventura, or say that he witnessed the assault later captured at a hotel. It is a retrospective comment about a teenage stay, not a documented public warning about the 2016 incident.
What Roger Bonds said he witnessed
Roger Bonds, who said he worked on Combs’s security staff from 2003 to 2012, gave a more specific account. In a May 2024 interview with the Los Angeles Times, the former head of security said he had seen Combs get physical with women around four or five times. Bonds described seeing Combs “grab ‘em up.”
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This is Bonds’s account of alleged first-hand observations, not an adjudicated finding. He was a former staff member, not an A-list celebrity, and his comments were reported after the video’s release. They concern alleged incidents he said he witnessed; they do not establish that he saw the hotel assault of Ventura or that other celebrities knew about it.
How the earlier comments differ from the video
CNN published surveillance footage dated March 5, 2016, on May 17, 2024. CNN’s transcript describes Combs grabbing Ventura, throwing her down, kicking her twice, and trying to drag her along the floor. The clip has no audio. CNN said the footage appeared to corroborate some allegations in Ventura’s lawsuit.
Rank #2
| Account | When and whose account | What it establishes—and what it does not |
|---|---|---|
| Usher’s recollection | Remarks in a 2016 Howard Stern interview, recapped by Us Weekly in 2024; Usher was describing a teenage stay with Combs in 1994. | A general statement that he saw “some things.” It does not identify the conduct, Ventura, or the hotel assault. |
| Roger Bonds’s account | May 2024 Los Angeles Times interview; Bonds said he worked on Combs’s security staff from 2003 to 2012. | Bonds said he witnessed Combs get physical with women on several occasions. It is an attributed account, not an adjudicated finding or proof of the specific hotel incident. |
| Hotel surveillance footage | Recorded March 5, 2016; published by CNN on May 17, 2024. | Shows the actions described in CNN’s transcript involving Combs and Ventura. It has no audio and does not by itself establish events outside the frame. |
The accounts therefore should not be collapsed into a claim that “A-list stars exposed” the exact abuse shown in the footage. Usher’s comment is broad and retrospective; Bonds described alleged direct observations but is not a celebrity example; and the video is the specific visual record of the hotel incident.
What happened with Ventura’s lawsuit and Combs’s response
Ventura filed a civil lawsuit in November 2023, and it settled the next day, according to CBS News, which also reported that Combs denied the allegations. A settlement is not a finding of liability.
Rank #3
After CNN published the video, Combs apologized for his conduct in that footage. The Los Angeles Times reported that he said, “My behavior on that video is inexcusable,” and took full responsibility for his actions in it. That acknowledgment addresses his behavior in the video; it should not be expanded into an admission of every separate allegation.
What later testimony added about the footage
In a May 30, 2025 report, the Associated Press said former hotel security guard Eddy Garcia testified that Combs paid $100,000 for the footage. That figure is an amount Garcia said in testimony, as reported by AP—not an independently established amount in the cited reporting. It is a later development about the footage’s handling, not evidence that the earlier public comments warned people about the video.
Rank #4
Why celebrity association is not proof of knowledge
Being photographed with Combs, attending a party, working for him, or remaining silent does not establish that someone knew about abuse or participated in it. The statements above support narrower conclusions: Usher made a vague retrospective remark about a teenage stay; Bonds described alleged physical incidents he said he witnessed; and CNN later published footage of a specific assault involving Ventura. Those distinctions matter when assessing what was known before the video became public.
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