The man who co-founded Bad Boy Entertainment with Sean Combs in 1993 filed a new lawsuit late Friday accusing Combs of creating a highly toxic and psychologically manipulative work environment filled with serial sexual harassment, physical aggression, and “forced compliance with degrading sexual acts.”
In his 18-page complaint obtained by Rolling Stone, Kirk Burrowes alleges Combs subjected him to unwanted sexual advances, nudity, acts of sexual exhibitionism and sexual assault during their time launching the powerhouse label that would become home to superstar artists Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, Lil Kim, Craig Mack and Mase. Burrowes says the allegedly abusive behavior eventually escalated into physical violence, blackmail, blacklisting and financial extortion.
Speaking to Rolling Stone last May, Burrowes said his old friend Combs “never” forgets a grudge. “If he sees a snag in the sweater, he’ll pull,” he said.
Attempts to reach Combs’ legal team were not immediately successful early Saturday. In a statement issued multiple times this week related to other lawsuits, Combs’ lawyers said that “no matter how many lawsuits are filed … it won’t change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone.”
According to Burrowes’ new lawsuit, Combs frequently groped Burrowes’ crotch and buttocks and forced him into situations where he was made to witness Combs engaging in sexual acts with employees, interns, prospective artists, and third parties at the Bad Boy Entertainment office in Manhattan. Burrowes claims Combs would summon him under false pretenses using the office intercom, and that Burrowes would find himself walking in on Combs receiving oral sex or other sexual favors. Burrowes believes Combs orchestrated the encounters to break him down and establish his submission, the filing claims.
During one business trip in 1995, Combs arranged a meeting at his hotel suite but then allegedly greeted Burrowes in the nude and “demanded that [Burrowes] watch as he masturbated,” the new lawsuit states. Later that same year, Combs allegedly physically restrained Burrowes in a Midtown apartment, “preventing him from leaving by removing his keys, pinning him down onto a bed, and simulating intercourse until he ejaculated,” the complaint reads.
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Burrowes alleges the abuse and intimidation culminated in 1996 when Combs allegedly burst into his office wielding a baseball bat and forced him to sign over his 25 percent stake in Bad Boy “or face violent repercussions.” (Burrowes was fired from Bad Boy in 1997. In 2003, he sued Combs for the alleged incident with the baseball bat. His claims were dismissed as beyond the statute of limitations.)
Burrowes filed his new lawsuit citing the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act, a New York City law enacted in 2000 with an initial seven-year statute of limitations. An amendment to the law in 2022 created a two-year lookback window allowing people to bring civil lawsuits even if their claims had expired. The window was set to close March 1, 2025. Scores of lawsuits were filed against Combs during the revival period. More than a dozen plaintiffs brought claims on Friday alone.
Burrowes’ new lawsuit, filed by lawyer Tyrone Blackburn, followed after Burrowes separately sued Combs’ mother Janice Combs this week for her alleged role in his loss of his 25 percent stake in Bad Boy. According to Burrowes’ new lawsuit filed Friday, Sean Combs banished him from Bad Boy as retribution for his resistance to Combs’ alleged abuse. Burrowes claims Combs then sabotaged his career. “In 2006, multiple sources informed plaintiff that Combs had used his influence to ensure that no major record labels or management firms would hire him, forcing plaintiff into economic instability,” the lawsuit reads.
Burrowes says he was living in a “welfare hotel” in Midtown Manhattan in 2013 and 2014 when he unexpectedly ran into Combs on the street. He alleges one of Combs’ associates threatened his life while Combs pulled Burrowes into a bear hug and grabbed his buttocks. “Upon information and belief, Combs orchestrated this encounter as an intimidation tactic to reinforce his continued dominance and control over plaintiff’s ability to exist within the music industry and public sphere,” the lawsuit reads.
