Howard Retracts Diddy’s Honorary Degree, Ends $2 Million In Agreements Following 2016 Assault Video 

Sean Diddy Combs will be stripped of his honorary doctorate degree from Howard University. The HBCU’s newspaper the Hilltop reports:

Howard University’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Friday to rescind Sean “Diddy” Combs’ honorary degree, terminate long-term relationships made with the rap artist and businessman and return his $1 million donation.

The board also voted on June 7 to terminate a 2023 pledge agreement worth $1 million that was never fulfilled by the Sean Combs Foundation, according to a university statement sent to The Hilltop.

Howard will revoke “all honors and privileges” associated with Combs’ 2014 Doctor of Humanities honorary degree, which includes being invited to participate in special events and occasions. 

“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,” the statement said about Combs’ honorary degree while referencing a 2016 hotel surveillance video in which Combs assaulted then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. 

The decisions follow a series of lawsuits and sexual assault allegations against Combs that emerged after Ventura filed a federal lawsuit last November, describing years of abuse. Combs paid $30 million to settle. 

Following the hotel footage release, Combs posted an apology video to his Instagram page on May 19, in which he said he was “disgusted” by his actions.

Combs attended Howard from fall 1987 to spring 1989, according to university records.

The $1 million that Howard will return was donatedin 2016 and used to fund a scholarship program in Combs’ name.

This is an ongoing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.