8 Shocking ‘Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy’ Revelations: Former Bodyguard, Da Band Member Recall Alleged Abuse and Sexual Misconduct
As Sean “Diddy” Combs remains in prison awaiting his trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, former associates and close friends of the mogul are speaking out in Peacock’s new 90-minute documentary “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy,” premiering on the streamer on Jan. 14.
Since Cassie Ventura filed her explosive lawsuit in November 2023, Combs has been the target of dozens of lawsuits from John and Jane Does, as well as plaintiffs using real names, containing similar allegations of being drugged, sexually assaulted and threatened if they were ever to go public with their experiences. Representatives for Combs have strongly denied all accusations against him, and there have been few public interviews from accusers in the time since.
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In “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy,” his former bodyguard, an anonymous Bad Boy employee, his makeup artist, a former member of Da Band and Al B. Sure! share their experiences with Combs, reflecting on moments that give insight into the experiences that the world never saw. Representatives for Combs denied all claims made in the documentary in a statement shared with Variety: “This documentary recycles and perpetuates the same lies and conspiracy theories that have been slung against Mr. Combs for months. It is disappointing to see NBC and Peacock rolling in the same mud as unethical tabloid reporters. By providing a platform for proven liars and opportunists to make false criminal accusations, the documentary is irresponsible journalism of the worst kind.”
Here are some of the most notable moments from the documentary, from Al B. Sure!’s speculation on the circumstances surrounding Kim Porter’s death to the lengths Combs was allegedly willing to go to keep his personal life private.
*Kim Porter, Combs’ late on-and-off girlfriend who died in 2018 from lobar pneumonia, is a recurring talking point in the documentary, with several people stating that she was a victim of domestic violence. Al B. Sure!, who shares a son with Porter, gave his first interview since the allegations against Combs began, reflecting on the time he met Porter. After Sure and Porter had their son Quincy Brown, Combs was introduced to Porter while they were all in the studio, and soon after they began dating.
Sure, whose real name is Albert Joseph Brown, remembers that Porter warned him to keep a distance from Combs. “Kimberly said don’t get involved, you will get killed. Even to the point where I remember…,” he said, choking up. “Nah I can’t go into that one. There’s legal proceedings going on right now. But yeah, I will share that at some point. But this is part of evidence and I have to refrain from this part of this segment. Let’s just say, you gotta listen to Kimberly, because not only was she trying to save me, but she was putting her own life in danger.”
Gene Deal, Combs’ former bodyguard, suggested that Combs abused Porter, and was once called to rush over to St. Luke’s hospital. “She looked like she was bruised and stuff like that, but she wasn’t saying much of nothing,” he said. “He played too much.” Deal also claimed that at other times, he could tell that Combs was roughing her up. Veteran journalist Kim Osorio appears in the doc and says that there were whispers that Porter was a victim of Combs’ abuse, and an attorney for a client who sued Combs says her client witnessed acts of violence against Porter. The documentary notes that “there was no evidence that Kim Porter was the victim of domestic violence.”
*Sure has been vocal about what he believes were the mysterious circumstances regarding Porter’s death, and he reiterates those concerns in the documentary. He gestures towards the conspiracy theory pushed by Jaguar Wright that Combs is responsible for the deaths of their fellow Uptown Records co-founders Andre Harrell, Heavy D and Porter. “This person is telling a story, this person’s writing a book, this person’s about to tell the truth,” says Sure. “Why is everybody dead? Oh, it’s a coincidence. Get the fuck out of here.”
The documentary makes it clear that “medical professionals have not found any evidence to indicate that Kim Porter’s death was the result of unnatural causes,” and the Los Angeles Police Department stated that there was no foul play or criminal involvement. It also points out that in 2024, Porter’s children released a statement saying “there was no foul play” in her death, calling the rumors “false and hurtful.” Authorities also did not consider the deaths of Heavy D and Harrell to be suspicious.
Sure had his own medical issues, suffering multiple illnesses, organ failure and a subsequent hernia surgery that didn’t fare well. He was placed in a medically-induced coma, and Sure suggests that there were bad actors at play that contributed to his health struggles: “Every single person, I was mindful enough to remember, I kept a record of every single one of you that was sent to set me up, to assist in the attempted murder of Al B. Sure! You’re in the file.”
*Combs’ former bodyguard Gene Deal, who was employed from 1991 through 2005, makes several allegations throughout “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy,” recalling a time when Combs berated his mother Janice Combs and that Deal inevitably quit his job after refusing to fetch food at Janice’s request. But one of his most notable recollections was from the night that the Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed on March 9, 1997. Rumors have swirled for years that Combs had something to do with his murder, which Combs has denied.
Deal states that based on intel, he warned Combs that someone was going to die that night before they went to a Vibe magazine party in Los Angeles. Combs replied, “Gene, I don’t want to hear that shit.” After shots rang out and Biggie was killed, he remembers Combs looking “stunned” and had a “look in his eye that he couldn’t believe it.” When asked by the documentary producers if he thinks Combs was involved, Deal replied, “Feelings can’t change facts, but facts can change feelings. I think that he plays Big in the atmosphere, so did he directly have something to do with it? He could have.”
*In her bombshell lawsuit, Cassie made sweeping claims that Combs abused her and forced her to have intercourse with sex workers while he watched. Last May, CNN released a shocking video of Combs assaulting her in a hotel hallway in 2016. Mylah Morales, Combs’ makeup artist, witnessed the violent nature of their relationship firsthand. She said that in 2010, they were staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel when Cassie left to go to a party. After midnight, Combs barged into the room, angry that she had attended an event. “They go into the next room, close the door, so I pack her bags and get her to safety,” said Morales. “That was panic mode. That’s when she came out, knots on her head, busted lip, she was just beat up.” She took Cassie to her home and tried to figure out what to do, but Cassie told her that she wanted to keep the incident quiet.
*Sara Rivers, who appeared on MTV’s “Making the Band 2” from 2002 to 2004, recalled her time on the show and her dealings with Combs, stating that his behavior was shocking and that he verbally berated her bandmates: “When he got angry with one of my band members, he said, ‘You make me so mad I want to eat your flesh.’ And then he said to another one of my band members, he said, ‘You’re rolling your eyes, I could go get a crackhead and pay them $20 to smack the shit out of you.’ Who says that? That’s crazy.”
She also said that she did not want to be around Combs unless there were cameras due to an incident where he allegedly groped her. “The incident basically, I was by myself,” she explained. “He touched me in a place that he shouldn’t have. That was inappropriate. I felt intimidated, I felt like oh my god, what the heck just happened just now? I’m definitely nervous, because like I said I haven’t said anything for so long and it’s built up. It’s been 20 years of going through my mind. This has happened, that’s happened, this was stopped. Mentally draining.”
*One former anonymous Bad Boy employee, whose voice was modulated for fear of retaliation, alleges that he’s seen Combs be “very violent” and threatened him if he were to ever leave Bad Boy. He says he met Combs around 2015 or 2016, and said that he was sent on “missions” that were out of his professional purview, including recruiting underage girls for Combs’ now-infamous “freak-off” sex parties.
“Anytime where the studio or any rooms is red, it’s red because he feel like the frequency for fucking or making love or sex,” he said of the freak-offs. In the documentary, there’s exclusive footage showing a party room bathed in red light. “He looked at two of the girls and winked his eyes and point and say, ‘Y’all come here.’ And he walked out and left into his room and didn’t come out until a whole ‘nother 24 hours. For sure they were underage.”
*Combs’ childhood friend Tim Patterson reflects on their time growing up together in Mount Vernon, New York. He says that Combs was bullied as a kid, and described himself as a protector. Patterson says that Combs’ mother Janice used to have illicit parties that were attended by drug pushers and soaked in alcohol and marijuana. “At night, it wouldn’t be a thing to mistakenly walk into one of the bedrooms and you got a couple in there butt-naked,” he said. “That’s what we were privy to. This is what we were fed. Was it desensitizing us? I’m sure it was. Were we aware of it? No. That was just Saturday night.” Janice Combs did not respond to the producers’ request for comment.
*The documentary features two relatives of victims who died during a stampede at the City College of New York in 1991. Combs was a headliner alongside Heavy D for a charity basketball game at the college, which was promoted as a 10,000-person event for a 2,700-capacity venue. Jason Swain and Sonny Williams, who both lost siblings in the crowd rush, recall that Combs gave them settlements that they reluctantly took.
Williams said that Combs called him to his office and offered him $50,000, while Swain was given $40,000. Combs never apologized for the incident. “His image is important for him,” said Swain. “The lies go back to City College. Had someone found him accountable, it may have slowed down the process of all the other things that happened to other people.”
“Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy” was executive produced by Ari Mark, Phil Lott, Sumit David, Stephanie Frederic, Laura Jones and Justine Kershaw. It was co-produced by Sara Lavery, and was produced by AMPLE Entertainment, Blink Films and FGW Productions.
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