Fifteen years to life. That’s the sentence Sean “Diddy” Combs could receive if he is convicted at his upcoming trial on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
It’s been a stunning descent for Combs, who became a billionaire after building a business empire that encompassed a record label and media properties, a clothing line, restaurants and liquor brands. The four-part Investigation Discovery series The Fall of Diddy looks into the making and unmaking of the producer-performer-entrepreneur, revealing a history of alleged abusive and destructive behavior by Combs that dates to the late 1980s.
“It shows the pattern that we’ve seen all through the years,” said director and executive producer Yoruba Richen, who took part in a panel discussion for Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary, Unscripted & Variety event.
Richen and her fellow director/executive producer Emma Schwartz interviewed more than two dozen people for the series including journalists, investigative reporters, a Combs childhood friend and others who crossed paths with him over the decades. The former editor-in-chief of Vibe magazine recounts an alleged incident in which Combs threatened to kill her after he became enraged over a magazine cover shoot. Combs’ former driver, Wardel Fenderson, says his boss offered him a bribe to lie about the circumstances of a shooting at a nightclub in 1999 in which Combs was arrested on weapons charges. More damningly, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones accuses Combs of assaulting and drugging him on multiple occasions in 2023 while they were collaborating on an album. And in Episode 4 of the series, Kat Pasion, a former Combs girlfriend, accuses the entertainment mogul of forcing her to engage in a nonconsensual sex act.\
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“She alleges that she was raped by him, in effect,” Schwartz commented. “It sort of raises a lot of questions about … how long has this alleged behavior gone on for — both in the past and up to the present? Certainly, federal prosecutors allege that this kind of behavior has continued until really very, very recently.”
Perhaps the single most disturbing sequence in The Fall of Diddy is surveillance camera video from 2016 that shows Combs assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a California hotel.
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“It’s some of the most shocking, upsetting footage I’ve ever seen,” commented Richen. “We have a moment in the series where people react to that, and it was really powerful. And seeing someone, another human being, treated that way is just incredible.”
Combs released an apology video after that footage was broadcast last year. But as to the charges and lawsuits he now faces, his legal team insists he will be vindicated. “Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone — man or woman, adult or minor,” his legal reps told People magazine. “Fortunately, a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth, and Mr. Combs is confident he will prevail in court.”
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Combs’ trial is set to begin May 5. The Fall of Diddy gives followers of the case and of Combs’ career some important context, notes Schwartz.
“Our documentary [is] not the trial of Sean Combs,” Schwartz said. “It’s looking at his history and how we got to this point. So some of it is understanding the potent impact he’s had on culture. Some of it is understanding other moments in his history and behavior that we can learn from that are not necessarily subject to what we’re all going to be watching [in court] in the coming months. But hopefully it gives you a grounding in who he is and how we’ve gotten to this point.”
Check back Monday for the panel video.
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