A clip from Ellen DeGeneres’ 2018 talk show featured a low-key chat with Sean “Diddy” Combs in which she alluded to her penchant for partying.
The clip is under renewed scrutiny as Combs, 54, remains jailed amid his arrest last week on sex trafficking allegations, which included claims he hosted parties involving sexual displays dubbed “Freak Offs.”
In it Appearance in February 2018DeGeneres, 66, noticed Combs was late for her taping and asked if he would be late for a party she was planning.
“Are you going to be early to my party?” said DeGeneres, whose career has been plagued over the past four years by a toxic workplace scandal that ultimately led to the cancellation of her long-running show.
Combs replied, “Yes, I am. No, you know I have to be fashionably late,” to which DeGeneres said, “But not too late, please.”
A 2018 clip from Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show included a low-key chat with Sean “Diddy” Combs, 54, in which the comedian, 66, alluded to his penchant for partying.
The clip is under renewed scrutiny as Combs remains jailed amid his arrest last week on sex trafficking allegations, which included claims he hosted parties involving sexual displays dubbed “Freak Offs.”
Combs asked DeGeneres, “What time do you want me to be there?” to which she replied, “I’ll tell you later.”
He added: “But not too late, because, you know, once you get there the party really starts, you know what I’m saying?
“Yeah… I got you covered. I promise I won’t let you down in this big game, really,” Combs said. “You’re going to get blisters on your feet and you’re going to dance really hard.”
DeGeneres, whose awkward November 2019 exchange with Dakota Johnson preceded a wave of bad publicity during the 2020 pandemic, told Combs, “I can’t wait.”
In the wake of Combs’ accusation, attention has been drawn to celebrities who have been photographed attending his parties in the past or spoken about him in interviews.
Stars who have acknowledged attending the events include Khloe Kardashian and Ashton Kutcher, while other celebrities photographed at their events include Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez, Tommy Lee and Russell Simmons (whose own career was halted by allegations of misconduct).
During his concert on Sunday, Ice Cube told the crowd that he had never attended any of Diddy’s events.
The reexamination of the talk show clip comes more than a week after Combs pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.
In the February 2018 appearance, DeGeneres noted that Combs had arrived late to her taping and asked if he would be late for a party she was planning.
“Are you going to be early to my party?” said DeGeneres, whose career has been plagued over the past four years by a toxic workplace scandal that ultimately led to the cancellation of her long-running show.
Ellen told Diddy, “Once you get there the party really starts, you know what I’m saying?”
Diddy replied: “Yeah… I got you, I promise I won’t let you down on this big deal, really.”
In an indictment, authorities said the rap mogul had abused, threatened and coerced women “to satisfy his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” with allegations dating back to 2008.
Combs twice attempted to obtain bail following his arrest but was ordered to remain in custody at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. If convicted, he faces at least 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Combs faced another lawsuit Tuesday, when a woman named Thalia Graves said the music mogul and his security chief raped and videotaped her at his New York recording studio in 2001.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York, the latest of several similar lawsuits against Combs, comes a week after he was arrested and a federal sex trafficking charge was unsealed.
Thalia Graves claims that when she was 25 and dating an executive who worked for Combs in the summer of 2001, Combs and Joseph Sherman convinced her to go to a meeting at Bad Boy Recording Studios. She said they picked her up in a van and gave her a drink “probably laced with a drug” during the ride.
According to the suit, Graves lost consciousness and woke up tied up inside Combs’ office and living room at the studio. The two men raped her, slapped her, slammed her head against a pool table and ignored her screams and cries for help, according to the suit.
At a news conference in Los Angeles with one of his attorneys, Gloria Allred, Graves said he has suffered “flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive thoughts” in the years since.
“I’ve found it difficult to trust others to form healthy relationships or even feel safe in my own skin,” Graves said, crying as she read a statement.
Last week, Combs pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit federal crimes. Photographed in New York in 2018.
She said it’s “a pain that reaches deep into your being and leaves emotional scars that may never fully heal.”
Her representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the latest lawsuit. Neither the lawsuit nor representatives for Combs immediately indicated whether Sherman had independent counsel who could comment on the allegations.
The lawsuit was filed under New York City’s Gender-Based Violence Victims Protection Act, and comes during a two-year period that suspends legal deadlines and allows sexual assault victims to sue for abuse that would otherwise be too old to report.
Allred declined to say whether her client had spoken to investigators in Combs’ criminal case. The indictment in that case only mentions allegations dating back to 2008.
Graves’ lawsuit also alleges that late last year, after Combs’ former protégé and girlfriend Cassie filed a lawsuit that started the wave of allegations against him, Graves learned through her ex-boyfriend that Combs had recorded her rape, shown it to others and sold it as pornography.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they were sexually abused unless they go public, as Graves and Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, have done.
Graves’ lawsuit claims that both Combs and Sherman contacted her multiple times in the years after the assault, threatening her with retaliation if she told anyone what had happened to her. At the time, she was in a divorce and custody fight and feared losing her young son if she revealed anything, the suit says.
Combs faced another lawsuit on Tuesday, when a woman named Thalia Graves claimed the music mogul and his head of security raped and videotaped her at his New York recording studio in 2001.
At a news conference in Los Angeles with one of his attorneys, Gloria Allred, Graves said he has suffered “flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive thoughts” in the years since
Graves said at the news conference that the guilt and shame that came with it “often made me feel worthless, isolated and sometimes responsible for what happened to me.”
The suit asks that damages be awarded at trial and that all copies of the video be accounted for and destroyed.
The suit also names as defendants several companies owned by Combs, the three-time Grammy winner and founder of Bad Boy Records who was one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades.