Several former employees of Diddy’s fashion brand, Sean John, as well as his now-defunct advertising company, have described a toxic work environment that the hip-hop mogul allegedly cultivated.
An anonymous employee compared working for Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, to Game of Thrones, the violent HBO fantasy series, in an interview with The daily beast.
Another said that during a meeting, when she disagreed with him, the rapper told her: “When you talk to me, you have to imagine that you are talking to Karl Lagerfeld.” Everything I saw, I assume comes from Karl Lagerfeld.
‘At that point, I didn’t have an answer to that, and he reaches out and grabs my face. “He puts his hand on either side of my cheeks and says, ‘Stick your tongue out,’ and then he squeezes my face harder and yells at me to stick my tongue out, forcing his hands on my face,” she continued.
These latest allegations come weeks after a horrifying video was released showing Diddy physically assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016 as the Bad Boy founder faces multiple sexual assault lawsuits.
Diddy, aka Sean Combs, will attend his birthday party in London in November 2023
Diddy is seen dragging Cassie back to her hotel room after collecting her bags.
Diddy told the employee who was forced to show him her tongue that he “just wanted to see” if it was bleeding because he had been biting it.
‘I started looking for work immediately after that moment. I just wasn’t interested in being there to deal with that kind of treatment. You really have to idolize him and see him as an icon. I did not do it. I was just there to do my job,’ he continued.
That employee said that when she saw the video of Diddy and Cassie, she wasn’t surprised.
‘I’m sorry it took so long. I look forward to getting what’s coming for him.’
Another of the rap mogul’s employees said he was fired for making eye contact with Diddy. The singer had arrived late for a meeting and the employee was disappointed.
“There was erratic behavior, there was definitely what I would consider mental abuse, (with) the way he spoke to us as employees,” he said.
That employee said he was expected to work between 7am and 11pm because of the “culture of fear” that existed in the offices.
“(There was) a lot of bad language, a little bit aggressive, in your face, physically in your face, that kind of thing.”
Whenever they ask him about his stay at Sean John, “he always tells them it was the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life,” he continued.
The former employees interviewed worked for Diddy’s fashion brand, Sean John, as well as his advertising company.
The release of Cassie’s video comes as Combs and his legal team had begun pushing back against allegations that had been coming steadily since November. The couple is shown here in 2016.
While another staff member said that because the offices were “flooded with work”, a specific project failed and Diddy refused to take responsibility for its failure.
“It was like you were walking down the street and someone randomly threw a brick at your head out of nowhere.”
‘Out of the blue, if he wasn’t happy with something you might not have done but he believed you had, you “caught a brick.”‘
During an altercation, security guards had to get involved when Diddy allegedly verbally attacked the employee. “She’s six inches from my face, yelling at him and telling me I screwed up.”
Despite his experiences with Diddy, that worker said he was still shocked by Cassie’s infamous video.
“I didn’t see his anger reach that level, I really didn’t, I wouldn’t have stayed if I’d known what was going on.” I’ll tell you that.
The release of Cassie’s video comes as Combs and his legal team began pushing back against allegations that had been coming steadily since November.
They recently filed motions to dismiss parts of a lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted a woman in 1991, and to dismiss an entire lawsuit alleging he and two other men raped a 17-year-old girl in 2003.
Court documents called both sets of accusations false.
On March 25, Homeland Security Investigations served search warrants on Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami in a sex trafficking investigation.
His lawyer called it “a flagrant use of force at the military level.” The investigation continues. Combs has not been charged.
Combs, a three-time Grammy winner and founder of Bad Boy Records, is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades.
He parlayed his success in hip-hop into a broader business empire that includes private label spirits, fashion and a television network. He has had to step away from some of his business duties since the allegations began to emerge.
He and Ventura began dating in 2007 and had an on-again, off-again relationship for more than a decade.
She became known for the hit single Me & U, which secured the number one spot on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2006. The song was the lead single from her only self-titled studio album.
As an actress, she has appeared in several television shows and films, including Fox’s Empire, Step Up 2: The Streets, and Spenser Confidential.
