Veteran journalist claims Diddy received death threats for refusing to approve magazine cover

Sean “Diddy” Combs is the topic of more accusations painting him as a bullying villain in hip-hop whose need for control meant nobody was off limits. On Friday, July 12, New York Times published a private essay written by veteran journalist and former VIBE magazine editor Danyel Smith, wherein she detailed her own adventures with Combs.

In particular, a former VIBE editor recalled that the Bad Boy Records impresario threatened her after she refused to show him advance copies of his magazine’s covers. The December/January 1997 issue had two covers, one featuring him shirtless, wearing sunglasses and white angel wings behind him, and the opposite in an all-white suit with a halo over his head and white angel wings behind him, giving a sinister look over the rim of his sunglasses.

She described the motifs as “one with heavenly symbols and the other with hellish symbols.” A 12 months earlier, he had been found guilty of threatening a New York Post photographer. Smith wrote that after the cover shoot, the “You Can Hate Me Now” artists demanded to see the photos.

“Combs wanted to see the Vibe covers before they went to press. It wasn’t our policy to show covers before they were published,” Smith recalled. “After I told him no, we heard he planned to come to our office and force us to show him what we had chosen—and force us to choose something else if he didn’t like what he saw.”

Vibe employees allegedly devised a plan to move Smith between offices without Diddy’s detection. When he unexpectedly showed up, her team quickly escorted her to a taxi with paper cover samples. His insistence on approving the covers continued when she called Smith the following day, demanding to see them. She again informed him that it was against the publication’s policy.

“Combs then told me, as I had said hundreds of times over the years, that he would see me ‘dead in the trunk of a car.’ I wasted no time in telling him he had to take back that threat,” Smith wrote. She claims Diddy asked, “Take back what?” before bursting into “hideous laughter.” He is accused of then telling Smith menacingly, “I know where you are now. Right off Lexington.”

When she noticed her lawyers from the exchange, she was threatened with legal motion. Only then did he fax an apology for his actions. When Vibe’s servers were stolen, including the covers, rumors soon followed, although unproven, that Diddy was behind the theft.

The latest round of accusations against the mogul has many individuals reacting, saying they now not imagine the beleaguered celebrity deserves any mercy. ‘Man, this guy really resides just like the Sopranos’ he tweeted one person. one other he suggested“Bad boy skeletons just falling out of the closet. #Diddy.”

And the third one he wrote“This whole ‘Love Records’ and ‘love’ social media thing was the most diabolical rebranding in pop culture history.” In 2017, the person with multiple aliases including Puffy, Puff Daddy, and P. Diddy reintroduced himself as Brother Love. He doubled down on his latest era in 2022 when he launched Love Records, a label promising to help music return to its R&B roots.

But the business move and rebranding are circling the tide, as dozens of lawsuits have surfaced since last 12 months accusing him of assorted abuses, harassment and more. Most recently, he was accused in court documents of grooming a former porn star for sex trafficking at his infamous white parties.

Smith credits Drew Dixon, a former music A&R who accused Russell Simmons of sexually assaulting her in 1995, together with her decision to publicly share her story. In an Instagram post, she wrote, “This post is both an iykyk and a tribute — thank you, @deardrewdixonfor standing up and telling your story. Thank you for the beautiful and successful music you have created and continue to love. Thank you for being loud when you could have been quiet. Thank you for all your contributions to #hiphopmusic and the culture. Thank you for always picking up the phone or texting back. I am beyond grateful.”

Many fans of Smith’s New York Times piece expressed support, sharing a quote wherein she talks in regards to the double-edged sword of being a girl within the music industry. “There’s no safe space for an ambitious woman. Nowhere, and certainly not in the entertainment industry. Men make it unsafe for her to keep it to herself,” Smith shared.