Sean Diddy Combs
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Amid a swirl of legal troubles, a detailed new report has surfaced allegations of past abuse against Sean “Diddy” Combs, as former friends, Bad Boy Records employees and artists claim the scandal-plagued music mogul was a violent person behind the scenes.
Rolling Stone magazine published an explosive story about Combs on Tuesday night. The magazine claims to have interviewed more than 50 people from his social and professional circles, from his music industry days to his college days. The story, which took six months to write, details Combs’ alleged history of violence and intimidation, particularly towards women, and paints a graphic picture of a series of terrifying incidents.
Multiple sources told Rolling Stone that Combs displayed violent and controlling behavior during his time at Howard University. In one incident, a college classmate of Combs’ described an “aggressive” Combs outside Howard’s Harriet Tubman Quadrangle dorm, yelling at his girlfriend to get out. Student sources said several female students in the dorm began raising an alarm inside the dorm after learning that Combs, who was then known by the nickname “Puff,” was assaulting his girlfriend outside the building. According to the first witness, classmates said, “Puff is outside acting crazy. He’s hitting her.”
A second Howard University student who witnessed the attack told Rolling Stone that Combs hit the woman “all over the place” with what appeared to be a belt. The second witness said Combs appeared “super angry” and was “yelling and screaming.” The witness said Combs “smacked her on the butt. He really hit her,” and that the woman “was trying to defend herself. She was crying. And we told him, ‘Get off her.’ We were screaming for her.”
The woman who Combs allegedly assaulted at Howard University declined to comment, but Rolling Stone reported that a third source also said she remembers the incident.
In a separate incident, Bad Boy co-founder and president Kirk Burrows claims he saw Combs assault a woman inside the record company’s offices in 1994. Burrows and another former employee, who was fired by Bad Boy in 1997, claim they heard screaming and the sounds of glass breaking and had to pull Combs away from the woman.
In another account, Bad Boy employee Felicia Newsom claimed that a fight broke out between two women and she had to restrain Combs when he tried to “punch this girl.” “I grabbed him around the waist and said, ‘You need to calm down. This isn’t your fight,'” Newsom recalled.
Rolling Stone reports that Combs was a controlling person who didn’t want the women in his life to move on after their relationships ended. Combs is accused of assaulting the late music executive Shaquille Stewart at a wedding in Italy, after Stewart had begun a relationship with Combs’ on-off partner Kim Porter. In an incident that allegedly took place at music mogul LA Reid’s wedding in 2000, Combs is accused of seeking out Stewart in his hotel room and assaulting him. Stewart’s mother, Portia Lovely, and two of his close friends say Combs smashed Stewart over the head with a chair. “He left him bleeding on the floor of a hotel in Italy,” Lovely says. “He had to get stitches, but…” [Combs] “He threatened him… ‘I’m going to kill you’… That’s when I said ‘You need to get out of this business. This guy is crazy.'”
Combs’ legal troubles have been mounting since his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassandra Ventura, known as Cassie, filed a lawsuit in November 2023 alleging nearly a decade of sexual and physical abuse. After settling the lawsuit with Cassie, Combs faced three more lawsuits from women who also accused him of sexual assault. In March, federal agents searched Combs’ homes in Los Angeles, New York and Miami as part of a sex trafficking investigation.
Despite settling his lawsuit against Kathy, Combs has denied assaulting her and has denied the allegations in other sexual assault lawsuits, but he faced further scrutiny after security camera footage was obtained and released by CNN in 2016 that showed him assaulting Kathy at a hotel.
What’s particularly noteworthy about Rolling Stone’s reporting is that three women who have accused Combs of sexual assault in recent lawsuits are speaking out publicly for the first time, saying they want to hold the mogul accountable after learning of a pattern of his abuse. Joy Dickerson Neal, Crystal McKinney and an anonymous “Jane Doe” each shared their experiences.
Dickerson Neal, who accused Combs of sexual assault in November 2023, said her decision to come forward “was not for the money, but to let the world know that this man who rose to the level of ‘icon’ was actually sick and left many victims in his wake.” [the wake of his] For years, his disgusting behaviour went on with impunity.”
Rolling Stone noted in the article that it sent Combs a detailed list of questions about the new and ongoing allegations, but that he did not specifically answer them. “Mr. Combs cannot comment on settled litigation, does not comment on pending litigation, and cannot address allegations that have been reported from sources, no matter how unreliable,” his lawyer, Jonathan Davis, said in the article. “He understands the authorities are conducting a thorough investigation and is confident that the significant issues will be addressed in the appropriate forum, where the rules distinguish fact from fiction.”
The Hollywood Reporter has also contacted Combs’ lawyers.
