Since the shocking release of the tape showing musical mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, he’s faced a flood of allegations from people who claim to have been victims of Combs’ abuse over the years. Now, a new two-part Investigation Discovery docuseries, “The Fall of Diddy,” which airs January 27 and 28, features interviews with some of those victims who allege they experienced violent threats and other forms of abuse at the hands of the disgraced music mogul.
Among those speaking out about Diddy’s alleged bad behavior is former VIBE Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Danyel Smith, who claims she was threatened by Combs when she refused to share a magazine cover he was featured on before it was published. In an interview for the docuseries, Smith explained allowing Combs to see the cover would violate their company’s standing practice of not sharing covers or stories with the subjects before they are published. But what came next, she says in a clip from the series, was a frightening threat on her life from Combs himself.
“He called me at my office. I told him again, ‘We don’t show the covers. We don’t share the story,’” she said. “I told him I wouldn’t be making an exception, and he said that he would see me dead in a trunk if I did not show it to him.”
Smith then contacted her attorney, who demanded Combs fax an apology for the threat, or they would contact the police. According to Smith’s account, Combs sent the apology two hours later.
“What I’ve only recently come to realize through members of the staff at that time was that he had actually, in the days before, come up to the VIBE offices with two tough guys looking for me,” she said.
Smith also wrote about that frightening encounter with Combs in a July 2024 essay for New York Times Magazine.
“There’s no safe space for an ambitious woman. Not anywhere, and definitely not in the entertainment business. Men keep it dangerous so they can keep it theirs,” she wrote.