LEONARD GREENE: No pity for Diddy — music mogul should be shunned over Cassie beating video

Until recently, I thought Diddy’s worst crime was rapping on other people’s records.

But now, between the sex trafficking allegations and the shameless video of him attacking his ex-girlfriend in a hotel hallway, I’m convinced that the only place he should be making music is in a prison cell with R. Kelly.

The video was hard to watch. The newly-released disturbing footage of Diddy — real name, Sean Combs — assaulting singer Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel back in 2016 was the worst domestic violence video since former football star Ray Rice was caught on camera coldcocking his fiancée in an Atlantic City casino elevator in 2014.

The only thing more difficult to watch was Combs’ shameless public apology, the one that took him years to make after denying months ago that anything ever happened.

“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” the music mogul said in a video statement posted last week to Instagram and Facebook. Sean Combs went on to say that he sought out therapy after the incident, and that he was working hard to try to be a better man.

The therapy only succeeded in turning him into a worse liar.

When Cassie 37, filed a lawsuit against Combs late last year, accusing him of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse, he denied the allegations, although he settled the next day.

“Let me be absolutely clear,” Combs said in a statement.” I did not do any of the awful things being alleged.”

Complicit in Combs’ alleged crimes is the hotel where it happened. Cassie, in a civil lawsuit against her one-time mentor, said Combs paid $50,000 for the security video, The arrangement didn’t stop CNN from obtaining the video and giving it more exposure than any of Combs’ music videos ever got.

But whoever sold Combs the hotel videos cheated Cassie out of the justice she could have received before the statute of limitations ran out on the assault crime that Combs now conveniently admits to.

“Domestic violence is THE issue,” Cassie, 37, said in an Instagram post last week. “It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past.”

The singer also made a special request.

“My only ask is that EVERYONE open your heart to believing victims the first time,” she wrote. “It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in.”

For decades, Diddy has had all the power. The time has come to take all that power away.

No more music. No more fashion line.

No more white parties.

We should treat Combs like the pariah he is.

We must shame him like we shamed Kanye West, like we shamed R. Kelly, like we shamed Harvey Weinstein.

Radio stations should stop playing his music. Artists should sign with other labels. The public should stop streaming his songs.

You can’t beat up a woman, bury the evidence and never pay a price.

Officials at Peloton said they have seen enough. After the abuse video aired, the company said it has dropped Combs’ catalogue from its programming as it “take[s] this issue very seriously.”

Meanwhile, the City Council said it wants its key to the city back. Mayor Adams bestowed the honor in September, calling Combs  “the “embodiment of the New York City attitude.”

“Mayor Adams should immediately revoke Diddy’s key to the city,” council member Sandy Nurse told TMZ. “As an abuser, Diddy lost his right to have such an honor and should be held accountable for his actions.”

Adams said rescinding the key is under consideration. Combs would be the first in the city to have a key revoked.

Rescinding the key is not enough to dishonor Combs. New York needs to change the locks, close the blinds and pretend it’s not home.