P Diddy is currently on trial facing five felony charges including – sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He had pleaded not guilty to all. But, what went on at his ‘Puffy Parties’…
Sean “Diddy” Combs is currently standing trial for a string of serious accusations – including a vast sex-trafficking operation that spanned a number of years.
The high-profile rapper – known as P Diddy or Puffy Daddy – rose to prominence in the late 90s thanks to his music and later his record label Bad Boy Records. He was once a name everybody wanted to be associated with – especially for his ‘Puffy’ parties.
His parties have been described as the “most elite level of partying” by one attendee, who has now lifted the veil of her own experience of being a fly on the wall during the now infamous gatherings.
Describing him as the “Pied Piper” of the party scene, one former journalist revealed her experience of the parties – and claimed that the “energy changed” as soon as ‘bad tempered’ P Diddy walked into the room.
Journalist Amy DuBois Barnett used to run one of New York’s top magazines, that was one of the first to champion hip hop and “urban culture.”
Wanting to get his up and coming artists featured in stories, Barnett was often invited to P Diddy’s parties in hopes she would provide coverage.
Here, she revealed six of her observations throughout the years of attending, from the very first to the last party she went to – and what changed in that time.
‘Pied Piper of Parties’
DuBois Barnett was editor-in-chief of Ebony magazine, later working for Honey and Teen People magazines before becoming deputy editor of Harper’s Bazaar. Her position in the media would often get her invited to what she described as P Diddy being the “Pied Piper of the most elite level of partying of that time”, Sky News reports.
The journalist went on to describe that “urban culture” ran the city at the time, with big wig finance bros and fashion execs wanting in at one of the pioneers of the rap genre in the 90s. Essentially, anyone who was ‘someone’ or wanted to be ‘someone’ vowed to get into the city’s most exclusive parties.
Despite wanting all of the influential people in media and the cultural world there, P Diddy appeared to not mould himself for these high brow people.
In the same interview to Sky, DuBois Barnett shared: “He was never known for being a calm kind of individual”. She added that the rapper was “very dismissive” and that felt “Puff never particularly liked me that much.”
She noted that she thinks this is due to her being unwilling to ‘vie’ for his attention, like many others would do.
‘Sudden energy change’
DuBois Barnett commented that the energy in the room would suddenly “change” when P Diddy walked into the room. As she noted before, a lot of people ‘vied’ for his attention – making him, at all times, the focus of the parties.
She shared that P Diddy was surrounded by what he would deem as “trusted individuals” and that he only truly bothered with people he was either “attracted to” or people that he thought were “important enough” for his business.
“When he[P Diddy] walked in the room, all of the energy changed,” she recounted.
“Puffy had his trusted individuals around him… immediately the area around him would become kind of crowded with everybody vying for his attention.
“I think that was also partially why he didn’t particularly like me because I wasn’t really vying for his attention.
“He really reserved that attention for the people that he was either attracted to… or the people that he thought were important enough to his business success.”
‘Afraid of his temper’
The journalist admitted that a lot of people, with some power of influence themselves, were “afraid” of P Diddy’s influence and also his supposed temper.
This only added to the atmosphere and energy at the parties, essentially creating a egg shells situation where he would allegedly “snap” regardless who was at the parties at that time – meaning he wasn’t worried about his behaviour being reported in the press.
DuBois Barnett added that it was common insider knowledge not to cross him due to the “rumours… of what he could do.”
She continued: “There were a lot of people within journalism, within media, within other industries that were afraid of his influence and also afraid of his temper.
“When things at parties would not go his way or somebody didn’t bring him something quickly enough, or… the conversation wasn’t going his way… he would just kind of snap and he was just not afraid to yell at whoever was there.
“There was not a lot of boundaries in his communication, let’s just put it that way.”
‘Culture of misogyny’
The female journalist, and the first Black-American woman to run mainstream publication, was a minority in her industry, one that has been typically run by white men – especially at the time.
Being invited to P Diddy’s parties was a huge milestone for the writer, however she realised that the industry then faced a “tremendous amount of misogyny.”
Speaking of the general culture of P Diddy’s parties and wider events for the music industry, DuBois Barnett claimed that “so many things happened to her”. Though, she did not specify who treated her this way.
Dubois Bennet candidly shared: “So many things happened to me, everything from getting groped at parties to getting locked in a limousine with music executives and having him refuse to let me out until I did whatever he thought I was going to do, which I didn’t.
“We didn’t have the vocabulary to understand the degree to which it was problematic… it was a thread that ran throughout the culture.”
‘Topless mermaids’
The journalist described the now infamous “white parties” to have had an extremely “strict” dress code. And that anyone would be refused if they didn’t look like what P Diddy envisioned.
DuBois Barnett revealed that there would be topless models dressed as mermaids and claimed that waiters would hand out weed brownies off of silver platters.
She explained how that some of the best DJs would be preforming poolside, creating a concoction to establish the white parties as the “most elite” at the time.
The journalist described: “It was like nothing you’ve ever seen before… the dress code was very strict.
“No beige, no ecru, absolutely white, you would literally be turned away if your outfit was wrong. Puffy did not sort of tolerate people in his parties that didn’t look ‘grown and sexy’ as it were.
“It was every boldface name you could possibly imagine, just this gorgeous crowd.”
‘Holed up in a corner’
However, P Diddy stopped being the centre of attention at all times to ‘hiding’ in the corner at one of the last parties DuBois Barnett attended.
She shared that the “vibe was very different” and that instead of being centre stage, P Diddy and Cassie – who were together at the time, were “holed up in the corner.”
DuBois Barnett concluded: “The last was a post-Grammys party, in 2017 or 2018, and just the vibe was very different. He was really kind of isolated in a corner with Cassie, you know, looking very unhappy.”
“Cassie looked very glassy-eyed and there was a sadness about her energy. Whatever was happening between the two of them, I mean, it didn’t feel positive.”
“They were sort of holed up in the corner for almost the entire night… it did feel very different from the kind of jubilant of energy that he projected in his earlier incarnations.”
DuBois Barnett’s insight is just a peek into accusations of darkness that went on during those parties behind closed doors…
What is P Diddy accused of?
P Diddy is currently standing trial for five felony charges, it was originally three but two more were added on in April – a month before the court proceedings started.
The charges are as follows:
- Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion
- Two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution
- Racketeering conspiracy.
P Diddy has continuously pleaded not guilty to all of the above charges. A lot of the accusations are linked to the supposed ‘Freak Off’ parties – which have been described as an “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
According to the indictment, P Diddy allegedly instigated female victims and male sex workers into drug-fuelled sexual performances, which were allegedly initiated after “physical, emotional, and verbal abuse.”
Singer Cassie Ventura, who dated P Diddy, has been testifying in court about the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of the rapper – including her part in the “hundreds” of Freak Offs she participated in. P Diddy claims that these were consensual.
The trial continues.
To keep up to date and to access more information about P Diddy’s trial, you can access the day four summary here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
