I highly doubt that anyone else coming out with accusations against Diddy before this would've had as much impact as Cassie did, no one else could've made it snowball like this.
Cassie was kind of the 'perfect victim' in this case. She was a public figure and they also had a long term, public relationship. So she had the most dirt on him and people were more likely to believe her than a random Jane Doe who comes out and says she was raped in the studio in 2003.
And even with all of that if Diddy just paid Cassie out what she demanded, she never would've went public and Diddy would've continued doing this. Diddy further compounded the problem by settling within 24 hours and making himself look even more guilty.
And like
@CHICAGO said it wasn't easy for her or anybody else to admit they partook in these activities with Diddy. And not just partook but also facilitated it and probably enabled Diddy to do that shyt to other people.