Former Diddy Bodyguard Speaks Out After Being Accused of Rape in Lawsuit: 'It’s a Lie'

Joseph Sherman, widely referred to as Big Joe, is speaking out against a recent lawsuit in which both he and Diddy are named.

Sherman, notably, previously worked in the security space, at one point providing bodyguard services to the currently embattled Bad Boy Records founder. In a lawsuit from Thalia Graves announced last month, Sherman and Diddy are both accused of rape. Sherman, however, says the woman in question has “the wrong man,” telling Sarah Wallace for WNBC this week that he’s “never seen” Graves in his life.

“It’s a lie on me,” Sherman, described in lawsuit docs as a “bodyguard and head of security,” said. Sherman, notably, says the latter title is not one he held. Furthermore, he says he worked for Bad Boy in the ‘90s but was not employed by Diddy and company in 2001, the year the lawsuit alleges the assault took place.

“I’m not questioning her integrity. I’m questioning her claims against me,” Sherman added. “I wasn’t the head of his security. You got the wrong man. I’ve never seen you. I’ve never did anything negative with you. I’ve never been in the same room with you.”

Mentioned deeper into the report are messages from an Instagram account that Sherman says he started receiving in November 2023. The account, Sherman claimed, has been “linked” to Graves, with WNBC stating it had “confirmed the connection.” Excerpts of messages from the account were shown, including one that stated Sherman would be left out of any legal proceedings if he agreed to be a “witness against Diddy.” Citing this, Sherman says he believes he’s being used as “a scapegoat for this BS” in response to him declining to “get Puffy.”

Next for Sherman, as previously mentioned in remarks from the former bodyguard cited in a Daily Mail tabloid piece, is an expected counterclaim on grounds of defamation.

“Does she know that what she did to me destroyed my family, destroyed my livelihood?” Sherman asked during his conversation with Wallace, as seen in full here.

At the federal level, Diddy is presently in custody and facing multiple charges, including trafficking and racketeering. He has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty, though his bail efforts have thus far proven unsuccessful. In a statement shared shortly after his client’s New York arrest in September, Marc Agnifilo, an attorney for Diddy, referred to the case as an attempted “unjust prosecution.” Diddy, Agnifilo added, is “innocent” and “looks forward to cleaning his name in court.”

Several months prior to the New York indictment, surveillance footage from 2016 was made public showing Diddy physically assaulting Cassie. In a subsequent apology, Diddy said he was taking “full responsibility” for what was shown in the video.