Original subtitles

[MUSIC PLAYING]

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): Diddy is

in the crosshairs of the Feds.

And they mean business.

You would have thought they were taking down a violent gang

leader, not somebody who makes music and has

charmed America for decades.

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): Diddy is under criminal investigation

after multiple lawsuits accused him of horrific crimes.

Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs accused of sex

trafficking and sexual assault.

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): Now, people who lived in Diddy's

world are talking to TMZ.

And what they say is revealing and disturbing.

I knew all of that was going on.

I've known the whole time.

I've seen Puff have anger spazzes on producers, females.

I'm a savage!

Whatever I want, I'm going to get!

Whatever I want, I have to get!

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): Diddy's alleged bad behavior

went unchecked for years.

There have always been whispers

and rumblings about Diddy.

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): His famous friends

are heading for the hills.

They have 250 cameras they took out his house.

A lot of people might be running from that tape.

I don't think it's only celebrities going to be shook.

He had politicians in there.

He had princes in there.

He also had a couple of preachers in there.

People may fear that somehow, he makes it out of this.

What did they fear?

A flat tire, being murdered, I don't know.

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): But Suge knight,

Diddy's archenemy, shockingly, is sad over Diddy's undoing.

I been seeing this dude shake back from some stuff, right?

So I'm not going to count him out.

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): TMZ presents The Downfall of Diddy.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]

I had just gotten out of the shower

and walked inside of the studio.

And it was such a nice day.

I'm like, let me go sit outside on a bench for a little while.

I heard a big boom.

Then I heard like, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo,

goo, like the sounds of like, armored vehicles coming,

approaching.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]

Simultaneous raids on March 25th, 2024,

a massive show of force, dozens of Homeland Security officers

rolled up in armored vehicles at Sean Diddy Combs' mansions

in Miami and LA.

Diddy's close friend and producer

Stevie J was at the Miami property when things got real.

Guys jumped out--

you know what I'm saying?--

guns up and aimed.

Get up.

Get on the fucking ground.

Drop your fucking phone.

You know what I'm saying?

I'm like, yo, I'm here by myself, you know?

I didn't ask too many questions.

I've seen quite a lot of things, but none

with the excessive force of this right here.

You would have thought they were taking down a violent gang

leader, not somebody who makes music and appears in movies

and has charmed America for decades.

CNN REPORTER: Breaking news-- the Department of Homeland

Security has just confirmed to CNN that federal law enforcement

agents have raided properties owned by musician

and producer Sean Diddy Combs.

LIVE NOW REPORTER: You can see a crowbar to get through this gate

initially as well, the long guns and a multitude of people,

as you'll see.

They'll zoom out a little bit, just to see the amount of force

they are using.

NBC REPORTER: You know him as Diddy, formerly

Puff Daddy, big-time rapper, big-time producer,

big-time superstar.

And now, the Feds at his houses in both locations.

CHARLES LATIBEAUDIERE: Federal officers spent hours

removing firearms, computers, boxes

and bags of items, both properties left in shambles.

They didn't do this to Harvey Weinstein, man.

They didn't do this like this to Epstein, right?

FABIAN GARCIA: Diddy's lawyer called

the raids a gross overuse of military-level force and a witch

hunt.

He said Mr. Combs is innocent and will

continue to fight every single day to clear his name.

FOX 11 REPORTER: I don't know what they're looking for

or where they're trying to reach.

JABEEN WAHEED: In LA, two of Diddy's sons,

Justin and King were briefly detained, then released.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

A week later, Justin's mom, Misa Hylton,

posted this shocking video on social media, security footage

from inside the house.

Officers with guns drawn and pointed toward Justin

and his brother, King.

Misa called it overzealous and deplorable.

It's hard for me to imagine that, had this

been many other celebrities, particularly white celebrities,

that their children would have been in handcuffs

and they would have been forced to stare down the barrel of guns

and seeing armored tanks.

It just seemed like a lot for a raid of a music producer.

You have to remember that Diddy

has been in trouble on some weapons violations in the past.

He has security.

These are vast compounds with multiple people at them.

And so using this type of force was not

inappropriate in any way, shape, or form.

A federal judge had determined there was evidence,

significant evidence Diddy was involved in sex trafficking,

sexual assault, and soliciting and distributing

illegal narcotics and firearms.

And that's why the search warrants were signed.

This is a massive investigation.

The idea that the feds have taken up

this investigation in the first place

indicates that it's remarkably serious.

HARVEY LEVIN: Aubrey O'Day, a member of Danity Kane and star

of Making the Band has been the lone voice for years, saying,

Diddy is a bad guy.

She has not spoken publicly since the new allegations

surfaced, until now.

If these allegations are true, why did it take so

long for others to speak out?

Because you really were a lone voice.

Real lone voice--

I was literally text messaging producers,

employers from top to bottom levels, like, y'all know

what the fuck you saw.

People were scared.

If you know enough, you likely would

be reasonable in being scared.

What did they fear?

Anything you possibly could, Harvey, a flat tire,

being murdered, I don't know.

There's a lot of things people fear.

People don't like to go after a powerful person

unless they're sure they will be victorious because if you go

after a powerful person, and it doesn't work out, as Omar

from The Wire said, you know, you come for the king,

you best not miss.

And people don't want to miss because if you miss,

that means you're shut out of the music industry,

you might be shut out of Hollywood,

you might lose opportunities.

And based on some of these rumors,

your car might blow up in your driveway.

PHOTOGRAPHER 1: Oh, I love that. PHOTOGRAPHER 2: Together, guys.

FABIAN GARCIA: In order to get the warrants,

the feds got one of Diddy's ex girlfriends, Cassie Ventura,

to describe how Diddy was involved

in various criminal misdeeds.

Others who recently filed lawsuits against Diddy

did the same.

When we see, though, the Southern District of New York

get involved in the way that they have, with obviously,

having a search warrant, which means probable cause,

multi agencies involved, it tells me that there's something

that we perhaps do not know yet--

whether that's cooperating witnesses or whether

that's allegations that are beyond what's currently

in the public domain, something that has given them

the indication to launch this investigation

at this broad of a scale.

Based on the lawsuits and the federal search warrants

that a judge signed, you know, alleging human trafficking,

firearms violations, sexual assault, all these other things,

does any of that surprise you?

No.

I knew all of that was going on.

I've known the whole time.

I know what's gone on.

A whole lot of people do, Harvey.

HARVEY LEVIN: It's a stunning downfall.

At 54, Diddy had it all--

wealth, fame, power.

The key to the city.

[APPLAUSE]

But Cassie's lawsuit led to a cavalcade of other lawsuits

and allegations that have rebranded the mogul

as an alleged sex-crazed predator

who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

Diddy wasn't home when the raids went down.

He was at a small Miami airport where he was

set to leave for a vacation.

He was questioned briefly by authorities and released.

TMZ captured these images of Diddy pacing

nervously after the encounter.

MAN: I guess you wondering what's going to happen next,

Diddy?

I know.

Diddy wasn't arrested that day.

But a member of his entourage was.

25-year-old Brendan Poole is now charged with possession

of cocaine and marijuana candy.

PHOTOGRAPHER 3: What's up, Puff? How are you doing, man?

PHOTOGRAPHER 4: How you doing, Diddy?

PHOTOGRAPHER 3: You're doing love.

PHOTOGRAPHER 4: You good? - How y'all doing?

PHOTOGRAPHER 3: Good good, man.

HARVEY LEVIN: Here's the thing.

There were rumblings about Diddy's bad behavior for years,

from drugs, to physical abuse, to guns.

But none of it derailed his success.

He seemed invincible.

I'm the best.

I'm not the worst.

I'm the best.

You know what I'm saying?

I've had my different things and point of views and stuff

like that in the past.

But I'm cured now, love, and everything is all right.

INTERVIEWER: There you go.

But everything may not be all right for Diddy anymore.

Once the Feds' investigation is complete,

Diddy could face charges that could land him in prison

for the rest of his life.

Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs, accused of sex trafficking

and sexual assault in a lawsuit filed in federal court

here in New York.

Cassie describing the music mogul

as a vicious, cruel, and controlling man, saying she

was trapped and held down by Combs.

Cassie Ventura was Diddy's on-and-off-again

girlfriend for a decade.

And her allegations turned Diddy's world upside down.

(SINGING) I've been waiting, waiting

Think I want to make that move now

Cassie filed a lawsuit in November 2023.

And that was the catalyst for the federal investigation

and those military-style raids.

How unusual is it for the Feds to have their eyes

opened by civil litigation, which

seems to have happened here?

Well, it's certainly important for the Feds, the Department

of Justice, to have their eyes open to what's

going on around them.

With the Department of Homeland Security involved,

that indicates that this goes beyond the border.

And that tells me that the Department of Justice

and the investigators in this case

may have inclinations or information

about that has led to the massive scale

of this investigation.

Cassie was a 19-year-old singer when

Diddy signed her to his Bad Boy record

label shortly after they met.

Cassie's self-titled album was released in 2006.

About a year later, her relationship with Diddy

became romantic.

In her lawsuit, Cassie claimed Diddy quickly lured

her into an ostentatious, fast-paced,

and drug-fueled lifestyle.

She said Diddy gave her copious amounts of drugs,

including opiates and ecstasy.

[PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOUTING]

Cassie claimed Diddy was often violent, forced her

to carry a gun in her purse.

She says in 2012, Diddy became enraged

when he heard about a brief relationship

she had with rapper Kid Cudi during a rough patch with Diddy.

Diddy threatened to blow up Kid Cudi's car.

Kid Cudi confirmed his car had been blown up in his driveway.

In 2015, Cassie claims a severely intoxicated

Diddy dangled one of her friends off

his 17th-floor hotel balcony.

REPORTER: The complaint going on to accuse combs

of uncontrollable rage, alleging that he often punched, beat,

kicked, and stomped on her, then allegedly used his money to hide

evidence of abuse, including putting Ventura

up in a hotel for days to heal.

Cassie described one violent incident

where Diddy stomped on her face repeatedly,

causing her to bleed profusely.

She says Diddy's head of security tried to step in.

But he was unsuccessful.

From wild sex parties to sex workers,

the allegations against this music mogul are shocking.

At one point, also, she said that he

would force her to interact sexually with escorts.

And he would watch himself and enjoy himself and pleasure

himself while watching her.

They were called freak offs, a very interesting term.

I've never witnessed that type of behavior.

I don't know what the man do in his bedroom or nothing

like that.

They was rocking together, from what I know.

All I know is they both was rock stars, living their best

life, in a relationship.

Cassie claims she only participated in those freak-off

encounters because she was afraid

she'd be beaten if she refused.

Cassie also claimed near the end of their relationship,

Diddy forced his way into her home and raped her.

[PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOUTING]

All of the Diddy controversy exploded

because of the Cassie lawsuit.

Once Cassie files that civil suit,

now people feel like it's not rumor or innuendo anymore.

You have somebody who was in a publicly known relationship

with him for a very long time.

And when that person is making allegations about freak offs,

and when that person is talking about different types

of potentially criminal activity that's being alleged,

now, people believe it.

One of the biggest legal blunders of all time

was when Cassie threatened a lawsuit unless Diddy

paid her $30 million.

He told her to pound sand, never believing she'd do it.

But she did.

Diddy's lawyer insisted Cassie was blackmailing his client.

But that lawsuit opened Pandora's box.

Social media, especially TikTok, went crazy.

And in a nanosecond, Diddy's reputation was trashed.

Ooh, Diddy, you are in trouble.

The stuff that he made her do is sick.

I hope Cassie gets the justice that she deserves.

Diddy, you are going to prison.

Honey, Cassie has brought the receipts on Diddy, honey.

And she's suing him for the things that he's done to her.

Diddy tried to stop the bleeding by settling with Cassie

just a day after she filed.

His lawyer said it was not an admission of wrongdoing.

But the damage was done.

Diddy's most egregious and fatal error

strategically was not settling with Cassie behind closed doors.

If he settles with Cassie behind closed doors,

there's a good chance that none of this controversy

is happening.

There's a good chance that other people wouldn't have

their own lawsuits pile on.

There's a good chance law enforcement

wouldn't have had their radars activated by all the allegations

of illegal activity.

There's a chance that Diddy would

just be living his normal billionaire life right now.

What more do I have to do, man?

Look at my hat, man.

Look at my hat.

Look how I show up on-- look how I

show up on the Amalfi Coast, B.

It looked like she put so much information out into the streets

that embarrassed you, that you didn't want any more of it

to come out.

And because of that, Diddy looks more guilty

than he did had he just settled behind closed

doors from the beginning.

If she said that he did it, he did it.

Did you read what-- did you read the things that he did to her?

P. Diddy going to jail.

Yeah, he going to jail.

When the lawsuit happened, it started a domino effect.

But also, what was said in the lawsuit was really the part that

took people by surprise because of the rape allegations,

of the sex trafficking allegations,

of the abuse that she went into detail about.

It was very much like, oh, this is definitely

the one that's going to shake the table

and shake his foundation.

Suddenly, it was like everyone was just

coming out of the woodwork.

I was sick.

I was sick of you.

I was sick of everything that was going on around you.

I was sick of having to cover up everything that you did.

When Cassie found the strength to use her voice

and speak her truth, it gave other people

the courage to do the same.

And I think this is also just how this reckoning came to be.

If one person has a power and has the ability

to be honest and tell their story,

then it allows other people to do the same.

In fact, at least three other women came

forward and filed lawsuits.

Joy Dickerson Neal claimed Diddy drugged and sexually assaulted

her 33 years ago and secretly recorded the encounter

and then shared it with others.

Liza Gardner claimed Diddy raped her and a friend in 1990.

And another woman who refused to be named claimed Diddy

and two other men gang raped her when she was just 17.

Diddy is now facing another very serious lawsuit.

And, you know, this all started with the Cassie lawsuit.

And then there were two more accusers.

An anonymous accuser, as a Jane Doe, filed it in federal court

today.

And her allegation goes back to 2003.

It was bad for Diddy.

Four women had come forward within three weeks

in November and December 2023.

Diddy himself finally released a statement saying,

and this is a quote, "Enough is enough.

For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched

people try to assassinate my character,

destroy my reputation and my legacy.

Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals

looking for a quick payday."

Diddy's response to all of these lawsuits has been,

they're coming after my money.

Everybody's an extortionist.

That's not entirely untrue.

I mean, everybody connected to him in these lawsuits

has made money off of him.

They've expected payment from him.

But because somebody pays your bills,

doesn't mean that they're entitled to do harm to you.

It doesn't mean that they're entitled to exploit you or abuse

you or otherwise mistreat you.

So, yes, people might want more money from you.

But it doesn't mean you're off the hook.

New allegations of sexual harassment and assault

against Sean Diddy Combs.

On February 26th, 2024, yet another lawsuit was filed

against Diddy, this one from Rodney

Lil Rod Jones, one of Diddy's former

producers and videographers.

And the allegations were even more shocking.

He is alleging groping, fondling, grooming.

And he goes on and on about going

to a party where he says he was drugged and allegedly raped.

Rodney Lil Rod Jones worked with Diddy for about a year,

starting in 2022.

He claims he recorded hundreds of hours of video and audio

of Diddy, his staff, and others engaging

in serious illegal activity.

Everybody's just telling me what he's allegedly capable of.

And, you know, it's very scary for myself.

And, you know, has me worried about my kids and, you know,

just sleeping with the anxiety and different things like that.

So just moving forward, I'm just going to pause on everything

until we know that it's clear and safe for me

to come back outside of work.

Jones claims he has irrefutable evidence depicting,

among other things, Diddy's illicit drug

use and unregistered firearms.

Jones also claims he witnessed Diddy and other famous rappers

consorting with underage girls and sex workers.

And the lawsuit alleges Diddy kept three sex workers

on a monthly retainer, including Daphne Joy, who has a son

with Diddy's nemesis, 50 Cent.

Daphne denies the claim.

Her donor.

And here's the clincher.

Jones alleges he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Diddy.

It's usually rare that a male will step forward and accuse

someone of sexual assault and participating in freak

offs and things of that nature.

When he came forward, it definitely

added to the disturbing claims that Diddy

was already up against.

It's just now, from a male perspective,

as someone who worked closely with him on his last album.

WOMAN: What's up, Diddy?

I want to tell anyone out there watching,

this is not about his sexuality.

That has been a big focus highlighted everywhere.

I think that Puffy is not man enough to come out

and simply say he's bisexual.

Bisexual, black male, sex cult.

Do you want to know what the judicial system cares about?

Crimes.

They don't care if a man has sex with a man

or a woman or 18 women.

And I believe in the justice system.

And the justice system doesn't raid anyone's

home over their sexuality.

NBC REPORTER: NBC is learning exclusively

that the music producer accusing Diddy of sexual assault

and harassment is also accusing actor Cuba Gooding Jr. Now

he's saying Gooding groped and fondled him while they

were on Combs's yacht.

His case got more holes than a Jamaican shirt.

Little Rod is a fraud, man.

You know, he ain't got no legs to stand on.

This is merely an extortion attempt by him and his lawyer.

That's all I can say.

Diddy Attorney Shawn Holley told TMZ in a statement,

"Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 million

lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday.

His reckless namedropping about events that are pure fiction

and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent

attempt to garner headlines."

In fact, TMZ has learned there are some big problems

with Rodney Jones' lawsuit.

For one, it was filed by an attorney named Tyrone Blackburn,

who is under the microscope of a federal disciplinary committee

in New York.

A judge who ordered that committee

to look into Blackburn's tactics said the lawyer

had shown a pattern of filing--

and this is a quote--

"cases in federal court to garner media attention,

embarrass defendants with salacious allegations,

and pressure defendants to settle quickly."

Another big problem--

Jones included in the lawsuit a screengrab

he claimed was Diddy's producer and close friend Stevie

J having sex with another man.

But apparently, it wasn't Stevie J.

The photo is definitely not myself,

you know what I'm saying?

This lie has been ongoing for a long time.

A guy from the LGBT community, a porn star, he raised his hand.

He said, that's my dirty work.

That ain't my work.

That's cool if dudes do that.

But that's not my thing.

I like to embrace a nice woman with, you know.

I wasn't mad.

It's just like, for the hard work I put in for these 30 years

in this industry, this is what I got to resort to watching this?

My kids got to see this?

My mom got to see this?

It seemed much more like a tell-all rag book than

it did an actual civil lawsuit.

When you combine how bizarre the lawsuit looked with his attorney

being a little bit sketchy in terms of the kind of cases

he takes up, it felt like it could

be a bit of revenge combined with legitimate concern.

With all the allegations and a federal investigation

that seems to be closing in on Diddy,

you'd think it's over for him.

But don't count him out just yet.

Diddy has dodged bullets before, and lots of them.

REPORTER: This is not Combs' first run-in with the law.

He was arrested in April for assaulting a record executive.

REPORTER: Combs testified before a grand jury this week.

CNN REPORTER: Combs was arrested at the university's

Acosta Athletic Training Complex for assault.

NARRATOR: He also had run ins with the law, accused

of assaulting a photographer.

He's been having controversy since the early '90s.

And he's never been convicted of any serious crimes.

He's been-- lots of allegations, lots of accusations.

His first bout with trouble was way back in 1991.

Diddy co-promoted an event in New York City.

The number of folks who showed up

was nearly twice the capacity for the venue,

resulting in a stampede that led to nine deaths and 29 injuries.

DIDDY: The things I deal with can

no way measure up to the pain that the families deal with.

And I just pray for the families.

And I pray for the children that lost their lives.

KATIE HAYES: Diddy was at the center of a violent incident

again in December 1999.

And this time, one of the biggest stars on the planet

would be pulled into the fray.

REPORTER: Police say Lopez and Combs were picked up,

along with his bodyguard and driver,

fleeing a shooting in a Manhattan nightclub

that left three people injured.

Diddy was dating Jennifer Lopez.

One night, he took her out to a New York City nightclub

when all hell broke loose.

So essentially, J.Lo and Diddy were out,

partying with a couple of his friends, their friends,

Shyne, another rapper.

And an altercation ensued.

Shots were fired.

I feel terrible that people were hurt that night.

REPORTER: Puffy is talking about the shooting

inside Club New York in the wee hours of Monday morning.

Three people were shot.

None of them received life-threatening injuries.

Police say after the shooting, Puffy and his equally famous

girlfriend, actress-singer Jennifer Lopez,

fled in a Lincoln Navigator.

Three people were shot and injured.

Diddy, J.Lo and a bodyguard named

Anthony Wolf Jones were later arrested,

charged, and hauled into jail.

Mr. Combs feels very confident.

Mr. Combs is not guilty.

He is focused.

He wants the trial to start.

And he is confident that when it's over,

he'll be standing out here, telling you

that he's just been acquitted.

CHARLES LATIBEAUDIERE: Diddy was found not guilty.

Shyne was convicted of assault and reckless endangerment.

He served nine years in prison.

But questions linger.

Was it actually Diddy who pulled the trigger?

And did Shyne just take the fall?

I literally watched them pull out the guns.

I had a clear point of view.

I mean, for God's sake, I got shot in my nose.

I was facing them directly.

I watched everything occur and have described it,

you know, vehemently to all parties involved.

I have nine bullet fragments remaining in my face.

Diddy arrested for making terrorist threats at UCLA.

It involves his son.

It involves a very famous football coach

and an altercation that ended up with Diddy holding a kettlebell.

And the question, was he trying to hit

this coach with a kettlebell?

Or was he trying to defend himself?

The one thing you got to do is you have

to be there for your kids 110%.

So as a father, if you feel-- or a mother--

anybody can relate to if you feel

like you have to go and straighten

something out for your child.

MAN: Was there a kettlebell involved?

I went there to communicate.

Diddy was charged with three counts of assault

with a deadly weapon, one count of making terrorist threats,

and one count of battery.

But the DA wound up dropping the case.

He kind of just has a way of getting

out of very tough situations.

And he's been doing so for decades.

Rapper and songwriter Mark Curry

worked with Diddy for nearly a decade

and says Diddy definitely has an ugly side.

I've seen Puff have anger spazzes on producers, females.

I'm a savage!

Whatever I want, I'm going to get!

Whatever I want, I have to get!

MARK CURRY: A&Rs, people who work for him,

so not just the females.

It's guys, producers.

I seen him spaz.

Curry remembers a particularly nasty incident between Diddy

and the mother of four of his children, Kim Porter.

You saw him get physical with Kim?

I didn't see him get physical with Kim.

But I know situations where, let's say if Kim said

she fell on the boat and broke her nose, and I say,

that's not actually what happened.

She went into it.

She just got a broke nose.

I think her and Puff went to home together.

And then next thing you know, she had the Band-Aid on.

So you already know what happened.

So she didn't-- she slipped and she fell.

No, I don't think that because they was just

arguing real big last night.

He was really mad.

Kim Porter died of pneumonia in 2018.

But she was just one of a long list of women who

were allegedly abused by Diddy.

Ex-girlfriend Gina Huynh went public with this story in 2019.

He, like, stomped on my stomach, like, really hard.

And I-- like, took the wind out of my breath.

I couldn't even-- I couldn't breathe.

But he kept hitting me.

And I was like, pleading to him, like, can you just--

can you stop?

I can't breathe.

And he, like, stopped for a little bit.

He, like, grabbed my hair from the back

and, like, was, like, punching the back of my head

because he was just avoiding my face

when he was, like, hitting me.

Diddy's attorney calls Huynh's allegations quote

"false and unsubstantiated."

If Puff put his hands on a female,

he would do it behind a closed door.

And when the door opened, you would be like, wow,

somebody has on a bandage.

Did you ever see anything like that

where somebody came out of a room looking injured or upset

like that?

Yeah.

You go in the room, you walk in, you come out not

looking the way you went in.

HARVEY LEVIN (VOICEOVER): Diddy's legal team tells TMZ,

"Mr. Curry's statements about what he thinks probably occurred

between Mr. Combs and Ms. Porter are pure

speculation and not based on any personal

observations or knowledge."

More money, more problems.

It's just the way it is.

Hey, we're coming back to you, Billy.

(SINGING) I'm the D to the A to the DDY

I know you'd rather see me die than to see me fly

I call all the shots, rip all the spots

Rock all the rocks, cop all the drops

Before the latest allegations came to light,

Diddy was known as one of the most

powerful and successful stars in music, his rags to riches story,

extraordinary

Sean Combs had a rough childhood growing up in Harlem.

His mother worked with kids with special needs,

his father, a drug dealer.

Diddy was exposed to crime and violence early on.

When he was just three years old,

his father was shot and killed while sitting

in a car in New York City.

But did he maintains his drive for success came from his dad.

That swag landed him an internship

at a record company at age 20.

And he quickly started moving up the ranks.

What's up?

My name is Puff Daddy.

This is my new artist, The Notorious B.I.G.

And we're here at the Outkast picnic,

just getting our swerve all the way on.

He was driven.

He was passionate.

He was motivated.

He knew what he wanted out of the gate.

We making music strictly for the streets.

We appreciate y'all support.

And it's all good.

He knew that he was going to be on top.

He has his struggle of an upbringing.

And then he comes out, and he's this ferocious beast.

And he wants to just dominate the industry.

(SINGING) Don't push us cause we're close to the edge

We're trying not to lose our heads

Ah-ha, ha, ha, ha

NARRATOR: He had his first number one hit on the Billboard

hip-hop charts in 1997 with Can't Nobody Hold me Down

and would go on to earn the top spot 10 more times.

(SINGING) Well, come on, take it low

You can even do it slow

You can even do it slow

Either way you want to go

Either way you want to go

Just take that to the floor

Drop something, move something, shake your tail feather

I take pride in being one of the, you know, most successful

producers in hip-hop history.

I have the most number ones as a hip-hop artist.

NARRATOR: Add to that three Grammys,

and in 2023, the MTV Video Music Awards Global Icon Award.

And nobody deserves to be called

an icon more than this man, Diddy Puff Daddy love.

(SINGING) All I am is a man with ambition to be the best

When I failed, it just gave me the vision--

But conquering the music world wasn't enough for Diddy.

He became a one-man marketing machine.

Your collection is great.

- You're watching-- - Revolt.

- Revolt. - Revolt.

Revolt.

(SINGING) It's a revolution

DIDDY: Ciroc is for the culture.

I feel like he always knew in the back of his mind,

like, his end goal was to be a mogul.

All this has made Diddy very, very rich.

His estimated net worth close to $1 billion.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Big smile, Diddy.

Oh, my God.

Diddy has lived a life of extravagance--

multiple homes, planes.

Black excellence.

KATIE HAYES: Yachts, cars, and of course--

--those legendary parties.

[DRAMATIC, ENERGETIC MUSIC]

[CHEERING]

[DRAMATIC, ENERGETIC MUSIC]

[SCREAMS]

I would hang out and watch him throw parties.

Sure, he famously threw, like, his white party.

He would throw a party.

One point, I went to Philly, followed

him all the way to Philly.

He threw a party.

And he said, yo, playboy, this party costs

a million and a half dollars.

They're actually fun parties, a lot

of famous people, star studded.

You'd be sometimes amazed by some of the people

that you see there.

Some of the people who attended

the parties have said that there was a lot of sex

during these parties.

And that kind opens the door to some of the allegations

that we've been reading about.

What about that?

So there was a lot of sex.

But it didn't happen at the party.

It was after parties, not necessarily at the party.

Now, what time would your party start, let's say?

Like 9:30.

- Really, that early? - Yeah.

I could make that.

Yeah.

But I think--

I think of you of starting a party at like midnight.

Like, what time will it go till?

That's a different type of party, though.

Uh-huh.

No, I mean, the after party.

No, I know about them.

There have always been whispers

and rumblings about Diddy.

The whisperings and rumblings, though, weren't

about criminal activity.

They were simply about his party lifestyle.

They were about his social activities

and maybe even his sexual activities.

There's always been whispers and rumors and innuendo.

But, like many things in Hollywood,

it was on a need-to-know basis.

Those who knew, knew.

And many fans and everyday people,

especially before social media, were completely in the dark

about what was going on.

MAN: What's up, boss?

How's it going, sir?

Nice to see you.

Easy.

Over time, however, we've come to see

more, hear more, and know more.

Aubrey O'Day sounded the alarm for years

that Diddy was a dangerous man.

She was dismissed as disgruntled and bitter.

A lot of people now think Aubrey was telling the truth all along.

After Cassie filed her lawsuit, you said, "Been trying

to tell y'all for years."

What were you trying to tell people?

That Diddy was not a safe human

and that you should be careful if you're planning

on entering any type of relationship with him,

from business to personal.

And this was based on your personal experience.

Yes.

Did he ever mistreat you?

Yes.

Have you ever seen Making the Band?

Yeah.

"Did he ever mistreat you?" is the funniest question

I think I've ever heard.

Of course.

Aubrey worked under Diddy for close to five years

as a member of the girl group, Danity Kane.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Hey y'all, look over this way, please.

(SINGING) Undress me with his eye

Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on.

And she was famously fired from the group by Diddy

on Making the Band.

You want to show all your skin.

You want to be naked.

If you are not happy and you hate me,

then why do you have me here? - I don't have to have here.

That's one thing that we can make clear.

Why do you have me here?

That's thing we can make clear.

I don't have to have you here. - But I'm asking you.

I'm trying--

I want to know, why do you have me here?

Because every time, it's just, I'm such a problem.

Check this out. You clear on that.

You understand now.

I'm asking myself, why do I have you here?

'Cause I'mma tell you like this, I don't like her energy.

I don't like her style and direction

where she's going with it.

I don't like what she does to the brand

when she's wilding out there, being overly raunchy,

promiscuous.

So there's nothing else to talk about.

Would you like to go with her?

Because she's not going to be in Danity Kane.

The mistreatment is enough to have

changed the course and direction of my entire life.

The mistreatment was enough for me

to have to spend a good amount of time

in the hands of professionals to learn what grooming is

and unlearn the grooming.

The treatment was so bad in some regards that I'm not

ready to speak about it yet.

But I will.

Are you talking verbal, physical, or both?

That's not a question that I'm prepared to dive into right now.

But I can say this, as that seems

to be a question that a lot of people love to ask.

Does it matter?

I've been in physically abusive situations.

The verbal ones hurt me way more.

The abuse was significant enough to change the course of my life.

I don't work these amount of years

to have you talk to me this way.

I'm not meaning to disrespect you.

So I don't want you in the group no more.

OK.

Because I don't want to even have to have this conversation.

On Making the Band alone, we experienced

intimidation tactics.

We experienced body shaming, beat downs.

And then when we thought we were absolutely nothing--

and I'm talking from sleep deprivation to bunkers.

It was very like training us to be good soldiers.

Do you feel that he was looking for young people who

never had a frame of reference, like you,

where it would be easier to do whatever you say he did?

I can't tell you his intentions because I don't

live inside that man's brain.

I never plan to.

And I pray I never go anywhere close to what that is.

Everything is just always about Diddy.

And whatever Diddy's narrative is over there,

you're being told it from every angle.

And you meet a person that is an excellent groomer.

What happens is they start to let

you know what's wrong with you.

That starts to make you question the things that you

believe about yourself.

Can I ask a question?

What do you want to look like, though?

Do you want to look like a Playboy Playmate?

Do you want to look like you--

Puff, I'm done with all of that.

No, no, no.

What do you want to look like, though?

OK, I'll tell you. I'll tell you.

What do you want to look like? You like big hair, though.

- I don't like big hair. - You do like big hair.

You like big hair.

Puff, you need to stop your generalizations about me.

You like a look-- you like a lot of makeup and all that.

His narrative of me, promiscuous, problematic,

all that rah rah, you know, the bad-- all the negatives,

that's why the only offer I had after being fired on national

television in front of the world as a child

came from Hugh Hefner.

And it was to do the cover of Playboy.

But I had to work very hard to get anyone

to give me an opportunity.

I notice you have a Danity Kane necklace on.

I'm just wondering how you process Danity Kane, which,

in so many ways, gave opportunities,

but is so connected to Diddy.

Does that make you sad?

Can you distinguish between Diddy and your success there?

Or is it all just so intertwined?

Complex question-- quickest answer--

if you do enough work on yourself, you can get to a place

where you will be able to distinguish

yourself from abusers and toxic situations.

Anyone out there that has gone through that or is in that right

now, please, hear me, resonate with me in this moment.

You can distinguish every piece of it.

You can separate them.

And you can pick what parts you are going to carry

with you into your future.

So I wear this necklace for my ladies out there.

I think it's because we were surrounded by a team of men.

And I don't know that any of those men

ever had our best interests at hand.

Last September, Diddy did something to counter some

of the rumors he was a monster.

I read that you are going to actually give back

the publishing rights to a bunch of artists on your label, which

is incredible because it's happening at a moment

that, actually, those rights are going for a very high dollar.

And many people would keep that money for themselves.

Yes, us, as a people, have to look

within and do the right thing.

So it was just the right thing to do.

And it's reform for the industry and reform

for just us as people.

REPORTER: Well, you're an incredible human.

When TMZ ran the headline-- and I

have a screenshot of it because I do want to call you out.

I received the publishing deal.

I know what it says.

I know how much money it was giving me.

I'll tell you, 330 cents.

$300.30 for a full release of all claims against

Diddy and many other players.

Never can disparage Diddy on any social media site,

on any podcast, on any format.

Never have any rights to any claims again over any type

of wrongdoings with your music or with any of these parties

listed.

Once you sign it, in fact, it said,

you can never mention the existence of this contract

ever again.

What do you think was behind him making a move

to return rights for so little?

At this point in time, what do you

think his motivation was there?

I think you would probably be making

moves to keep as many people quiet as possible.

When I went to look at the publishing deal,

it said anything but, I'm being made whole financially again.

In fact, it asked me to not be able to have access to my story

and my experience anymore.

It asked me specifically to stay silent

and never speak poorly about a human.

So then I realized something really bad

is coming because this isn't a man that was reformed.

I'm just not who I am before.

I'm something different.

So my new name is Love.

Do you know what the word "love" means to everybody?

We live and die to find a human on this Earth

that will genuinely love us.

The man took the most beautiful, precious, unreachable words,

livable lifetime words, and put it in his fucking name,

had his publicist send you a lie or a reformation of the truth.

And everybody maybe signed it and can't talk.

I don't know why no one else is coming forward and talking

about this, frankly.

MAN: How do you describe yourself?

I'm vivacious, eccentric, and I'm a Scorpio.

MAN: What's one misconception about you?

There are no misconceptions about me.

There's no doubt the conversations around Diddy

have changed significantly since Cassie's lawsuit came out.

And things that may have seemed innocent in the past

are now being looked at in an entirely different way.

You know, where we're hanging out and what we're doing,

we can't really disclose.

But it's definitely a 15-year-old's dream.

A video of Diddy with a then-15-year-old

Justin Bieber surfaced.

It was taken while Bieber was visiting Diddy's home.

And given all the new allegations,

it seemed, well, a little weird.

He signed to Usher.

I'm signed to Usher.

I had legal guardianship of Usher

when he did his first album.

Yes.

I did Usher's first album.

I don't really-- I don't have legal guardianship of him.

But for the next 48 hours, he's with me.

So, yeah, and we're going to go fool, butt fool crazy.

We're going crazy.

Speculation as to what he saw at Diddy's home

ran rampant on social media.

Did P. Diddy groom a very young Justin Bieber?

And people say it almost looks like Justin

Bieber didn't want to be there.

It looks like it was completely scripted.

And P. Diddy looked completely suspicious.

I think it's clear that Justin Bieber

definitely looks uncomfortable.

Watching it gives me, personally,

a very weird pit in my stomach, especially watching it

through the lens of all of the accusations against Diddy

right now.

A few days later, a second bizarre video

emerged of Diddy and Justin that just added fuel to the fire.

Selling out arenas and everything,

starting to act different, huh?

You ain't been calling me and hanging out

the way we used to hang out.

Well, I mean, you haven't--

I mean, you tried to get in contact with me,

you know, through all my, you know, you know,

partners and whatnot.

Mm hmm.

But you never really got my number.

Right, OK.

Want my number?

Then another video resurfaced and raised eyebrows--

Usher talking to Howard Stern about what

he saw when he moved in with Diddy when he was just 13.

His manager sent him there to learn what life as a star

was all about.

I went there to see the lifestyle.

- Right. - And I saw it.

And it was-- but I don't know if I could indulge and understand

what I was even looking at.

Biggie Smalls was there.

Biggie Smalls was there, Lil' Kim, Craig Mack.

All these people are hanging around.

Yeah, man.

Faith Evans, Jodeci, Mary J. Blige.

And your parents were OK?

They ain't know nothing about this shit.

Oh.

I was having a good time, you know what I mean?

But Usher later expressed concern

about what he was exposed to when he was living with Diddy.

I mean, I'm 13 years old.

I'm not here to party with you.

I don't want to go to the clubs.

Matter of fact, I'm too young to even be in here.

Why you got me in clubs?

There were a lot of things I seen and a lot of positions

that I think I was put in where I had

to make very, very tough decisions in my life

about who I would be.

Usher and Bieber have not commented

on the latest allegations.

But other artists have taken Diddy to task.

50 Cent, who's tangled with him for years, tweeted, "It's not

Diddy do it, it's Diddy done."

He's corny.

He's Uncle Tom.

That's who Curtis is.

He want to see the Black man go down before anybody else,

know what I'm saying?

He's just sore.

He's just sore because his baby mother is with Puff.

Don't be sore.

Don't be a hater.

You know what I'm saying?

Get greater.

So with him, he's just a troll.

Mary J. Blige, a friend of Diddy's for 30 years,

posted, "Unfortunately, a lot of you

all met me when I lacked boundaries

and was a people pleaser.

Let me reintroduce myself.

I burn bridges as needed," apparently referring to her

own experience with Diddy.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Diddy has befriended some of the biggest names

in entertainment for decades.

Yet, none of those stars have come out to defend him, not one.

That may say less about Diddy and more about Hollywood.

Hollywood is eerily and noticeably

quiet about all of the Diddy controversy right now.

And I think it's a very simple reason for it.

And that is, people in glass houses

don't want to throw stones.

[APPLAUSE]

Even Ashton Kutcher, who met Diddy when they both had shows

on MTV and was one of his closest friends,

hasn't uttered a peep.

The radio silence around this case, in my opinion,

is highly unusual.

Even if you look at, say, R. Kelly, who's someone who is very

much maligned and should be, given

what he's been convicted of, he did have supporters early on.

Diddy has none.

It's crickets.

A lot of these cats, they don't have-- first of all,

they don't have the heart.

Second of all, it's like, I can't

be seen standing next to him while that's going on.

I don't want people to look at me funny.

So you got those that just won't come near it because they

don't want to be affected.

And that's just the way it is.

There are a lot of people who are

probably implicated in his events, in his activities.

Even if they're not criminally guilty,

they just might have been at a party.

They may just have been hanging out.

And if he gets attached to something that is considered

awful or outside the boundaries of what you're allowed to do,

then no one wants to be connected to him at all.

MAN: Is there another reason why other people aren't

speaking out in his defense?

I think a lot of people are just trying to understand--

understand what is and what's not.

You know?

Another reason people aren't coming to Diddy's defense--

Diddy was allegedly obsessed with recording

everything that went on in his homes, everything.

If they have 250 cameras they took out his house,

they have a whole bunch of images or footage

of things that were going on around his house.

A lot of people might be running from that tape.

I don't think it's only celebrities going to be shook.

He had politicians in there.

He had princes in there.

He also had a couple of preachers in there.

[LAUGHS]

Diddy is a powerful person.

You don't get to be a billionaire

without being powerful and without being

connected to powerful people.

So Diddy knows politicians, entertainers,

philanthropists, academics.

You name it, he's connected to them.

And so if we start unraveling the thread of Diddy's networks,

you're going to find a lot of people.

And like Jeffrey Epstein, some of them might be implicated.

Do you find it a little hypocritical that there are

a lot of people who are so silent now, who are so

quick to canceling others when they're not involved

or even remotely associated?

There is an interesting contradiction

that we are witnessing in real time right now.

There are people who are very quick to cancel people,

people who are very quick to say, lock

them up, throw away the key.

At the same time, those very same voices

are saying nothing about Diddy.

Now, it's not because their morals have changed.

It's not because their philosophy has shifted.

It's a much more simple answer than that.

They're scared because they're tied up with him some way,

somehow.

I think there's a possibility that people

may fear that somehow he makes it out of this.

And if he does, he's probably taking a long list of anybody

that's speaking on things.

And maybe also because everybody's

done things that they wouldn't want people to know

and they fear that involving themself in a conversation

like that puts them at risk.

Cassie scared a whole lot of fucking men.

There's people wrapping up their business nice and tight

now because there are many more.

And some people just aren't talking

because they're afraid of retaliation

from Diddy's adversaries.

TMZ was scheduled to do an interview with one of Diddy's

former employees for this documentary, one who was

actually going to defend him.

But they backed out, stating in a text,

"I'm worried Diddy has many enemies.

I'm afraid that if I give my thoughts on what I experienced,

I may be ruled a target.

I have a comfortable and cozy life.

Not sure if I want to disrupt it."

But Diddy does have some defenders

who aren't afraid to speak out.

And one of them is someone you would never, ever expect.

REPORTER: Responsibility for the so-called feud

between East Coast and West Coast rappers,

a feud that allegedly led to the murders of Tupac Shakur

and Notorious B.I.G. Rap artists and producers call for an end

to the rivalry and the violence.

But how long will the peace last?

Only time will tell.

Diddy and rap executive Suge Knight have

been arch enemies for years.

East Coast versus West Coast, Diddy's Bad Boy Label

based in New York and Suge's Death Row Records

based in LA, a rivalry that was incredibly bitter.

Any artist out there want to be an artist

and want to stay a star and don't

want to have to worry about the executive producer trying to be

all in the videos, all on the records, dancing,

come to Death Row.

I know that it--

what?

Are they crazy?

I was like, wow.

And I was like, you know, I could blow this thing up

right now, you know?

And sometimes, it got downright violent.

REPORTER: A rivalry so bitter that it's

led to the death of two of rap's most successful artists.

So you'd think Suge Knight would

be reveling in all the allegations against Diddy,

right?

Wrong.

I talked to him on the phone from a California prison

where he's serving 28 years for a fatal hit and run.

And what he told me blew me away.

I got to say, I am shocked at what you just said.

I thought you were going to almost

kind of dance over his troubles now,

just because of your history.

And the grace you're showing toward him and his family--

I don't know-- it's kind of remarkable to me, given

the history of you two guys.

What changed with you?

There are so many allegations now of sex trafficking and drugs

and all sorts of things.

Did this just come from out of the blue?

Or was there kind of a buzz that some of this

might have been going on with Diddy for a while,

if any of it's true?

Do you think that the silence of people in the music business

and in entertainment generally over what's going on with Diddy

right now, with all of the allegations and lawsuits,

do you think that silence is really kind

of rooted more in fear, that they're afraid,

oh, my god, I have associations, too?

Because that's sort of what you just alluded to.

One person who could literally hold the key

to Diddy's future and freedom is a young man named Brendan Paul.

Brendan was the only person arrested and charged on the day

of those raids back in March.

Authorities say they found cocaine and marijuana

candy in his luggage at the airport

where Diddy was questioned.

According to Rodney Jones' lawsuit,

Brendan is Diddy's drug mule, who

allegedly acquires and distributes

Mr. Combs' drugs and guns.

Jones also claims Brendan was responsible for paying

prostitutes for the freak-off parties.

I'm particularly interested in Brendan Paul

because he's 25 years old.

And he's allegedly the one who's obtaining drugs for P. Diddy.

It's interesting, such a young guy--

I don't know if that indicates that P. Diddy's organization is

as large or as complicated as perhaps the Feds would

need to make it out to be.

[PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOUTING]

Only two years out of college, Brendan became

part of Diddy's inner circle.

On social media, he's seen celebrating at Diddy's

latest album release party.

Brendan's one of Diddy's assistant.

We used to play ball together, kick it.

Producer, has an artist.

He's a pretty cool dude.

He and Diddy, you know, he was Diddy's assistant.

I mean, he was with him all the time.

So they had a cool little, you know,

relationship, a cool little brotherhood.

Brendan was released the day after

his arrest on a $2,500 bond.

His attorney has refused to comment on the case.

But given his proximity to Diddy,

authorities are no doubt interested in what

he saw behind closed doors.

The Feds are going to be looking for anybody close

to P. Diddy or whoever their targets are

in this investigation to essentially turn on the people

that they're most focused on.

So they're going to be looking to cut deals.

They're going to be looking to grant immunity deals.

They will be looking for those people

around the center of the orbit to turn on their targets.

FABIAN GARCIA: The Feds have their work cut out for them,

especially if they want to get Diddy on the more serious

charge of sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking, when looking at adults involved

in a crime of that nature, the Feds are required to actually

prove that there's force or coercion that's

involved in addition to the commercial situation that's

going on.

So in addition to just payment, they're

going to need testimony and evidence that these individuals

were actually forced or coerced to engage in these sexual acts

or the ongoing sexual business that they're

alleging occurred here.

I have heard the stories regarding Diddy having

prostitutes that willingly want to go with him

across state lines.

But there's a couple of things that need to be

looked at in regards to that.

Was there a power dynamic?

Were they fearful?

Was something making it so that they

felt that they needed to or else there

would be consequences for not?

It just takes one of them to be doing this against their will

for that to be human trafficking.

One thing that could help the Feds--

Cassie Ventura can still be compelled

to testify against Diddy in federal court,

even if she agreed not to talk as part of the settlement.

Witnesses can be forced to cooperate.

They can be subpoenaed and brought in.

And that's something that the Feds have the power to do.

That goes beyond just the idea that perhaps he's

settled lawsuits, for example, with Cassie.

She can still be subpoenaed.

She can still be brought in and essentially

made to tell the truth, and if she doesn't, face

her own consequences.

In fact, as those raids at Diddy's home were going down,

Cassie's lawyer posted on X, "We will always

support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those

that have violated the law.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr.

Combs responsible for his depraved conduct."

I think he's going to have a very difficult time getting out

of this one because you've got the magnitude

of the federal government now that is coming in.

And so, in my opinion, it's going to be near impossible

for him to get out of.

MAN: Everybody, put your glasses up in the air.

Let's take a toast to Sean Combs.

If you would have asked me 20 years ago what Diddy's legacy

was, I would have said, he was one of the stewards

of one of the most important and beautiful moments in hip-hop.

If you would have asked me 10 years ago what Diddy's legacy

was going to be, I would say he was the template

for the billionaire rap star.

Now, in the aftermath of all of these allegations, all

these rumors, all these innuendos,

I don't know what Diddy's legacy is going to be.

It's really still an open question.

Everyone who interacts with him has their own version

of how they would describe him.

To some people, he's a saint.

To some people, he is their hero.

To some people, he is a monster.

I think it's just all about how people interact with him

and what they've experienced and witnessed being around him.

What would I want people to know about Diddy?

That, you know, he's like any other man, loves his mother,

loves his children, takes care of a ton of people,

gives jobs to a ton of people.

Even when the scenario was going on, when all this is going on,

people still call him, asking him for stuff.

And he's still there for people.

It's like, you know, he's a good dude.

Are we all perfect?

Nah, none of us.

Spread love.

I love y'all.

Love, love, love, love.

Savage!

I'm a savage!

Without y'all, I wouldn't be on this stage.

Ba, ba, ba, Bad Boy.

I done seen this dude shake back from some stuff, right?

So I'm not going to count him out.

You know what I'm saying?

I'm not going to make a prediction.

But I'm going to say, you know, I ain't going to count him out.

Anyone on this Earth has the ability

to be both good and bad, have done good things and bad things.

So it's hard to just say, this is a bad guy,

or this is a good guy.

I don't even want to be forced into that place.

For all my friends that love to throw

the word "karma" around, my response was always,

yeah, good luck.

Karma is a poor man's excuse.

I know a lot of bad people.

And they're not seeing karma.

They're getting better and better.

They're getting more and more.

I witnessed it for years.

I never thought I would see this.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[THEME MUSIC]

[AUDIO LOGO]

[AUDIO LOGO]