Five former employees of rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs are coming forward to say he was an abusive boss, following the recent release of a video showing Combs punching his girlfriend in a hotel hallway.
The employee group is The Daily Beast And a rapper named Sean John spoke to the outlet about being physically and mentally abused at work and the toxic environment he created within his music and fashion empire.
One female employee told The Daily Beast that she left after an incident in which Combs grabbed her face and yelled at her for disagreeing with a fashion decision.
She also said that Combs demanded that she stick out her tongue, saying he wanted to see if it was bloody because she had apparently bitten it. He also told her she was dating a fashion genius and said, “When you talk to me, you should think you’re talking to Karl Lagerfeld.”
The woman, who declined to be named in the article for fear of retaliation, added, “I just wasn’t going to be there to be treated like that. You have to worship him and see him as an icon. I didn’t. I was just there to do my job.”
Another former staffer, who said Combs was fired for “giving her a wink” after being hours late to a meeting, said: “His behavior was erratic and there were certainly instances of what I would consider emotional abuse. [with] “How he spoke to us, the employees,” he said. The man blamed Combs for the “culture of fear” he created among employees, adding, “There was a lot of profanity, abusive language, language that was like physically speaking in your face.”
A third employee told the outlet that working for Combs was “the worst experience of my life.”
An employee told The Daily Beast that Combs was paranoid about the women who were with him at work events, and that when an employee asked one of Combs’ coworkers about a particular woman, a commotion erupted and staff began warning Combs never to mention or look at the women he was with. The incident culminated with Combs forcefully grabbing the employee by the arm and warning her to stop talking about the women.
Employees even coined a term for when someone becomes the target of Combs’ wrath: “catching a brick.”
“It was like walking down the street and all of a sudden someone throws a brick at your head,” the former employee said. “Suddenly, you’ve ‘got a brick’ because they’re not happy about something they think you did, when in fact you didn’t.”
Another company employee who was close to Combs and Sean John employees corroborated the claim that Combs’ company was toxic, saying, “There was a lot of swearing, I was talking to crazy people, [calling women] Bitches, [saying]”He called out things like, ‘Fuck you,’ ‘You idiot,’ and ‘I’m firing you all right now.'” The person said they’ve never seen Combs attack men in the fashion industry the way they do women, unless the men have “power or status in the industry.”
None of Combs’ former employees were surprised by his assault on Cathy, which was caught on hotel security camera. “It’s unfortunate it’s taken this long,” one former employee said. “I hope he gets what he deserves.”
The result, they all say, has been high turnover among Sean John’s staff and very low turnover at the company.
Still, The Daily Beast found other employees who claim to have had positive experiences working for Sean John.
Combs faces numerous lawsuits alleging violence and abuse, including one filed by April Lampros, who claims she met Combs in college.
Lampos is one of six other women who have filed similar lawsuits alleging rape and physical abuse.
He is also being sued by singer Cassie Ventura, the woman caught on security camera footage assaulting him.
Combs has also had other legal troubles: He was the subject of a series of federal raids on his properties in California and Florida as part of a sex trafficking investigation.
The rapper has denied all wrongdoing, with his lawyer denouncing the attack as a “military-level abuse of force,” adding that Combs is “innocent and will continue to fight to have his reputation restored.” Combs has, however, apologized for the video of him punching Cassie.
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