September 17, 2025
“Making the Band” star Star Rivers is pressing forward with her legal fight against Diddy after her sexual assault lawsuit was dismissed.
Sara Rivers, best known from her time on Making the Band and as a former member of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ group Da Band, is challenging the court’s decision to dismiss her sexual harassment and assault lawsuit against the Bad Boy mogul.
On Sept. 15, the singer filed a motion to appeal in Manhattan federal court after a judge recently dismissed her lawsuit alleging that Combs sexually harassed and groped her during the filming of the 2000s MTV reality series, Billboard reported. Rivers is now taking her case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in hopes of reviving the suit.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff dismissed 21 of the 22 claims in Rivers’ lawsuit “finally and with prejudice,” preventing them from being refiled. The judge cited the statute of limitations, emphasizing how much time had passed since the alleged assault.
“It is important to remember the many positive purposes served by statutes of limitations,” the judge wrote at the time. “They promote justice by preventing surprises through plaintiffs’ revival of claims that have been allowed to slumber until evidence has been lost, memories have faded, and witnesses have disappeared.”
Rakoff delayed ruling on count 15 of the 148-page lawsuit, opting to wait for an appeals court decision on whether New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act (GMVPA) could still allow claim-revival after the statewide Adult Survivors Act had closed its own window for time-barred sexual misconduct claims. The Adult Survivors Act is what enabled many of Combs’ accusers, including ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, to bring their allegations forward in his sex trafficking and racketeering case.
In her lawsuit, Rivers accused Combs of groping her and forcing her into encounters where he allegedly sexually harassed her during the filming of the hit MTV reality show. Under her GMVPA claim, she further alleged that Combs “cornered” her at his recording studio, later retaliating by blackballing her from the music industry when she rejected his advances.
Her lawsuit accuses Combs and co-defendants, including Bad Boy Entertainment, Janice Combs, Universal Music, Viacom, and MTV Productions, of conspiracy to commit racketeering. The defendants pushed back, arguing the statute of limitations barred the claims.
Meanwhile, Combs faces a wave of civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct while remaining in federal custody ahead of his Oct. 3 sentencing. He is still working to overturn his conviction on two counts of violating the Mann Act for transportation to engage in prostitution.
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