The criminal trial of Sean Combs, otherwise known as P Diddy, has begun in New York City. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He also faces dozens of civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and abuse over a 20-year period. Combs denies all allegations against him.
I was following this story long before I started working on my BBC Three documentary, P Diddy: The Rise And Fall. My interest piqued when Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura filed a lawsuit against him alleging she was subjected to controlling behaviour and abuse for over a decade – even more so when it was settled so quickly out of court (allegedly for an eight-figure sum).
Then came CCTV footage dating from 2016 showing Combs violently kicking and beating Ventura outside a hotel room, which he called ‘inexcusable’ in a social media apology, but later claimed the footage was ‘altered’. Last September, he was arrested on criminal charges and a mounting pile of civil allegations has followed.
In the film, it isn’t my job to decide if he’s guilty or not, but it is my job to ask: if this is possible, how did it happen? Who else knew and helped it go unnoticed? I grew up listening to Diddy’s music; like so many other fans, I put him on a pedestal, believing he was a person ‘for the people’.
I spoke to people in and around the Diddy machine, including two of his former bodyguards, Gene Deal and Roger Bonds, as well as Mel Love and Precious Muir, who had both known and worked with Diddy in the past. I got a sense that Combs is a remarkably charismatic, driven person. He keeps a tight circle, demands the best from himself and everyone around him. But in many of the conversations I had, one phrase came up repeatedly: ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. In every aspect of his life, Combs allegedly liked to maintain control and often used his temper to do so.
‘He could go from one to 10 in a matter of seconds,’ Bonds told me. ‘Diddy had a look and then Cassie [Ventura] would be quiet… When you have that type of power and implement that type of fear in a person, it’s hard to talk to them.’
Combs himself once said, ‘I have different personalities, do you know what I mean? Nobody knows who’s coming down the stairs in the morning.’ Deal agrees he was emotionally erratic. ‘You have the solemn, down to earth cool dude with his kids,’ he explained. ‘You have the person who, if you don’t do what he says to do as far as the business thing, he’s going to chop your head off. You have people he was generous to, and some people who he wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire.’
From spending time with those who had been in his orbit, I got the sense that more people may come forward with allegations if Combs is convicted. ‘There are a lot of things that I would love to say, but because I fear the repercussions… I have to hold back a little bit,’ Muir told me. ‘I don’t know what could happen to me.’
Whatever verdict the jury delivers, it’s unlikely to be the end of the Diddy saga.