The shots keep firing at Sean “Diddy” Combs as more details arise about his reputation. Fortune Magazine reached out to 100 former employees for more details about their experience working with the disgraced media mogul.
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Many of the people declined to interview or to be named in fear of retaliation, but we’ve allocated the most shocking details so you don’t have to.
The now infamous all-white parties were on the docket, of course. Among some of the disturbing revelations, Joi Dickerson-Neal, is another one to add to the list.
Neal, a college student at the time, alleges that Diddy drugged, sexually assaulted and subjected her to “revenge porn.” Diddy and his team have since denied the claims as “a money grab,” but these allegations continue to paint a muddy picture of his legacy.
Diddy’s former first assistant at Uptown Records, Pam Lewis-Rudden, explained the work environment to be toxic in the 90s. She told Fortune that she had no knowledge of the allegations against him, but that the workplace — both Combs’ ship, and the 1990s in general — didn’t work in women’s favor.
“There’s nobody even doing HR,” Rudden revealed. “So, I’m going to go to HR and tell him that Puffy drugged me and raped me? Right.”
Fortune also detailed Diddy’s accused exploitation of artists. Grammy-winning poet Malik Yusef recalls a publishing deal with Diddy: Combs acquired Yusef’s rights for $15,000, leaving him without proper credit.
“He’s like, ‘I got you on stage with me all over the world with me. Make a business for yourself.’ Basically that’s what he was saying.” Yusef said in an interview with Fortune.
It was reported that Diddy led his companies with an iron fist and oversaw every aspect of the creative process. But later on, he was more distant in the day-to-day work and would pile on duties to his staffers and management.
Even outside the music industry, the controversy blended into his philanthropic affairs. In 2016, Diddy founded a charter school called Capital Prep, located in Harlem, New York. The parents of students reported dissatisfaction with the curriculum and violence endured by students. Capital Prep did not respond to the magazine’s request for comment.
Diddy’s team declined to respond to each specific instance in the article. But, they did release a general statement to the magazine.
“Mr. Combs cannot respond to every new publicity stunt, even in response to claims that are facially ridiculous or demonstrably false. Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor.” a representative of Combs Global said.
Overall, the former employees emphasized a harsh, toxic work environment. As the allegations continue to surface the future continues to look bleak for Diddy.
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