The legal battles connected to Sean "Diddy" Combs continue stretching beyond the music mogul himself, with another courtroom dispute now unfolding between Cassie and Clayton Howard. Howard, a former male escort who has acknowledged participating in the so-called "freak-offs" and later testified during Combs' federal criminal trial, is now asking a judge to reject claims that he threatened the singer through a series of social media posts.
The disagreement comes as Howard pursues his own civil lawsuit against both Combs and Cassie, alleging he suffered physical and psychological harm during his involvement in the encounters, claims Cassie has denied.
Read More: Cassie Accuses Clayton Howard Of Threats & Harassment
Howard Continues His Legal Fight
According to TMZ, in a newly filed declaration, Howard pushed back against accusations that a now-deleted TikTok video amounted to a threat against Cassie. Her legal team previously cited the nearly nine-minute video after Howard referred to her as a "whore" and said, "B*tch, I'm going to burn you out with fire."
They argued the remarks were threatening and asked the court to prevent him from making further public attacks. Howard, however, maintains the comments were never intended to intimidate Cassie, describing both that statement and his remark that she could "win stupid prizes" as figures of speech rather than threats.
Howard told the court he voluntarily removed the TikTok and acknowledged portions of the video were "intemperate." He added that the language did not reflect the tone he intends to bring to the litigation moving forward. He also said he plans to stop discussing the case publicly and will instead limit any future statements to court filings while the legal proceedings continue. The court has not yet ruled on Cassie's request to restrict Howard's public commentary about the case.
