All the Major Takeaways From Diddy's Shocking Rolling Stone Exposé (2024)

Just when things looked like they couldn’t get any worse for Sean “Diddy” Combs, Rolling Stone released a shocking exposé on the hip-hop mogul on Wednesday recounting years worth of his allegedly abusive ways.

The investigation spanned across six months, included over 50 sources (many of whom went unnamed out of fear of retribution), and took two journalists to compile. And while many online are still parsing through the exhaustive report, we thought it best to highlight some of the biggest, wildest, and unbelievable claims present.

Buckle up folks, you’re in for a ride...

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While details of Diddy’s abuse towards ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura came as a shock to many, those who knew of Diddy from his college days at Howard University claim the behavior is par for the course.

Per Rolling Stone:

The classmate, who requested anonymity due to fear of retribution, says her concerns were validated when Combs appeared outside the school’s Harriet Tubman Quadrangle dorm and started screaming in a “belligerent” manner for his girlfriend to come outside. The classmate says other women soon began running through the halls, knocking on doors in a panic. They were sounding the alarm that Combs, known then by his nickname ‘Puff,’ was attacking the young woman outside, she recalls. ‘Puff is out here acting crazy. He’s beating her,’ the fellow students said, according to the classmate.

‘He screamed and hollered and acted a stone fool until she came downstairs,’ another Howard student who witnessed the alleged attack tells Rolling Stone. She says Combs used what appeared to be a belt to strike the young woman ‘all over the place.’ Speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the incident, the witness said Combs appeared ‘super angry’ and was ‘screaming at the top of his lungs.’

She says he ‘whupped her butt — like really whupped her butt.’ The witness says the woman was clearly terrorized: ‘She was trying to defend herself a little bit. She was crying. And we were telling him, ‘Get off of her.’ We were screaming for her.’ A third source also recalled the alleged assault to Rolling Stone. (The woman at the center of the alleged attack declined comment.)

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Per former Bad Boys president Kirkland Burrowes to Rolling Stone, because Tupac was closer to Biggie and was uninterested in being friends with Diddy: “there was someone on the sidelines, jealous.”

Burrowes also claimed Diddy and Bad Boy execs pushed Biggie to “to write certain songs,” following the ambush on Tupac in Times Square in 1994. As such, the label released “Who Shot Ya?” the following year—though Biggie tried to make clear that the song wasn’t directed at Pac. That message ended up falling on deaf ears and prompted Pac to release his popular diss “Hit ’Em Up,” pushing hostilities to their peak.

It’s long been argued that Diddy and Death Row Records founder Suge Knight intentionally played a part in the growing and tense rivalry between the rappers which ultimately led to their untimely deaths.

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In 1997, when Rolling Stone approached Bad Boy about a cover opportunity months after Biggie’s murder, Burrowes claimed he pushed for the late rapper to go on it. Instead, Diddy pushed back and allegedly asserted that he needed to be on the cover to help promote his debut album No Way Out.

“I was telling Sean, ‘Let’s make it Biggie. You still have a chance [for a cover in the future],’” Burrowes told Rolling Stone. “He’s like ‘No, he’s dead. I’m putting out [Combs’ debut album, No Way Out] in July. I need to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.’”

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In 2000, Diddy allegedly assaulted his then-ex, the late Kim Porter’s boyfriend the late Island Def Jam Music Group exec Shakir Stewart.

Per Rolling Stone:

When the industry gathered for L.A. Reid’s wedding in Italy that summer, Combs went to Stewart’s room after the ceremony and allegedly broke a chair over Stewart’s head, Stewart’s mother and two of his close friends tell Rolling Stone. ‘He left him bleeding on a hotel floor in Italy,’ Stewart’s mother, Portia, says. ‘He had to have stitches and then [Combs] threatened him … ‘I’m going to kill you’ … That’s when I said you need to get out of this business. This man is crazy.’’

Stewart would later die of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on November 1, 2008.

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Former Bad Boys president and co-founder Kirkland Burrowes told the outlet that in 1994, he saw Combs allegedly attack a woman inside Bad Boy’s office.

Per Rolling Stone:

He and another ex-employee tell Rolling Stone they had to tear Combs off the woman after hearing screams and the sound of shattering glass. (The woman declined Rolling Stone’s request for comment.)

Felicia Newsome, the first manager of Bad Boy’s recording studio, Daddy’s House, says she once held Combs back when he was about to ‘beat this girl’s ass’ after a fight broke out between two women. ‘I’m holding him by his waist, saying, ‘You need to calm down. This is not your fight,’’ Newsome recalls.

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As previously reported by The Root, in December 1991, Diddy and rapper Heavy D helped organize a celebrity charity basketball game at City College of New York. It ultimately left nine people dead and dozens others injured in a stampede.

Diddy tried to shirk responsibility but NYC Mayor David Dinkins ultimately faulted him for lack of planning and “reckless over-promotion” which led to injuries of many event goers in the space.

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In 1999, Diddy allegedly assaulted Interscope Records executive Steve Stoute for not removing him from “a crucifixion scene” in a music video for rapper Nas’ song “Hate Me Now” before sending it to MTV.

Per Stoute to the L.A. Times at the time: “He punched me in the face, and then he grabbed the phone and bashed me in the head with it. One minute I’m in the middle of a meeting and the next minute I’m down on the floor and Puffy and his guys are kicking and pounding me. One of them picks up a chair and throws it at me. Then Puffy throws my desk over and they just walk out like nothing happened.”

Combs would later privately settled with Stoute, reportedly for $500,000.

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Freelance graphic designer “Anna” alleged that she was sexually harassed in 2001 at a party at the Peninsula Hotel, where Diddy he was throwing a massive bash to celebrate his acquittal in the infamous nightclub shooting.

Per Rolling Stone:

“Combs approached her and began to massage her shoulders. (The woman requested a pseudonym, citing fear of retribution.)

‘I’m getting touched on my shoulder, my arms, my back. He’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, you like that? I know you like that.’ Like really, really gross,”’Anna recalls, sharing her story publicly for the first time. ‘I was like, ‘No, not so much,’ and I sort of floated my way out of there.”

Anna says she avoided Combs the rest of the night. Weeks later, her boss’ girlfriend confided that Combs allegedly approached the boss the night of the party to ‘solicit me for sex,’ Anna says. (A friend confirmed to Rolling Stone that Anna told her about both the encounter and the proposed arrangement when they began working together a few years later. The boss did not return Rolling Stone’s request for an interview and the girlfriend declined to speak.)

“I felt quite unsettled about this for many years. When people ask me about my days at Bad Boy, it’s just overshadowed by his crap,” Anna added.

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