Sean Combs allegedly threatened veteran journalist would be ‘dead in the trunk of a car’. On Friday, the editor of a music magazine became the latest woman to accuse embattled rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs of violent behavior, alleging he had threatened her life over a 1997 editorial dispute. Combs is currently facing multiple lawsuits alleging sexual assault and physical abuse, as well as an ongoing federal criminal investigation into his alleged involvement in sex trafficking.
Danyel Smith, then editor-in-chief at Vibe magazine, detailed the harrowing experience in The New York Times.
“Combs and I worked together frequently,” Smith wrote. “We competed in our own way. Often, I believed I came out on top. I was mistaken. I had reason to fear for my life. What happened was insidious. It broke my brain. I forgot the worst of it for 27 years.”
Smith recalled wanting Combs on the cover of Vibe’s December 1997/January 1998 issue in white, feathered wings. The photo shoot in September went smoothly, but the aftermath was disturbing.
“Combs wanted to see the Vibe covers before they went to press,” Smith wrote. “It wasn’t our policy to show covers before publication, so after I told him no, we heard that he planned to come to our office and force us to show him.”
Smith recounted how staffers devised a plan to keep her safe from Combs. By then, the rap mogul had been found guilty in 1996 of threatening a New York Post reporter with a gun and was also denying involvement in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.
Smith described grabbing her stack of cover proofs depicting Combs when he arrived at the Vibe offices and rushing them to her managing editor before fleeing in a cab.
Combs resumed his efforts the next day. Smith said she politely refused to show him the cover when he called to demand seeing it.
“It was then that Combs told me, as I’ve retold hundreds of times over the years, that he would see me ‘dead in the trunk of a car,’” she wrote. “Not missing a beat, I told him he needed to take that threat back. ‘Take it back,’ I said, sounding as if I were 10.”
“‘Take what back?’ Then, with a vile laugh, ‘[Expletive] you,’” Smith continued. “‘Take it back now,’ I said. ‘Or I’m calling my lawyer, and you’re going to jail.’ He said: ‘I know where you are right now. Right on Lexington [Avenue].’”
Combs refused to comment to The New York Times.
Smith recalled that while Combs faxed over an apology within hours, the magazine’s computer servers went missing a few days later. Fortunately, a staffer had saved an early version of their upcoming issue on a personal disk, and the cover went to print.
Combs has now been accused by at least seven women who have come forward with sexual abuse claims following his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie’s, lawsuit for rape in October. Combs denied any wrongdoing but settled the suit for an undisclosed sum within 24 hours.
