Howard University Takes Back Diddy’s Honorary Degree
Diddy‘s honorary degree from Howard University has been taken back due to the 2016 surveillance video that shows Puff beating his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel.
Diddy’s Honorary Howard University Degree Revoked
On Friday (June 7), the school’s collegiate newspaper The Hilltop reported that Howard University in Washington D.C. had voted to revoke Diddy’s honorary degree. They also said they’d returned Puff’s $1 million donation made to the school. The school’s Board of Trustees voted to end the 2023 pledge agreement that had never actually been fulfilled by Puff’s Sean Combs Foundation.
“Mr. Combs’ behavior, as captured in a recently released video, is so fundamentally incompatible with Howard University’s core values and beliefs that he is deemed no longer worthy to hold the institution’s highest honor,” a statement issued by the university read, via The Hilltop.
Diddy received the honorary degree from Howard University in 2014.
The video in question was the 2016 hotel surveillance video in which Diddy could be seen beating and assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. The video emerged online on May 17. Diddy apologized for his actions in the video in a recorded apology tape on May 19.
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Diddy Sells Majority Stake in REVOLT
Howard University’s decision comes as Diddy continues to experience a sweeping and dramatic fallout related to multiple allegations against him of sexual and physical abuse. Earlier in June, Puff sold his majority stake in REVOLT, the media company he founded in 2013, making the employees the largest shareholders group. REVOLT announced Diddy’s shares had been “fully redeemed and retired.”
The disgraced rap mogul had previously stepped down as Chairman of the company last November following several lawsuits that accused him of rape, sexual assault and violence. REVOLT’s CEO Detavio Samuels celebrated the employee’s ownership, championing them as “owners of the business they are helping to build.” The staff is now the largest shareholder group in the company following Diddy’s departure.