Behind the Bastards - Part One: P. Diddy: A Life in Crimes

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Robert sits down with his friend, Grammy-award winning audio engineer Greazy Wil, to talk about Sean "P Diddy" Combs, a sex criminal who killed way more people than you'd expect. (3 Part Series)See om...nystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Decisions Decisions, the podcast where boundaries are pushed and conversations get candid. Join your favorite hosts, me, Weezy WTF, and me, Mandy B. As we dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday and Wednesday, we both invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. Tune in and join the conversation. Listen to Decisions Decisions on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarchi. And I'm Holly Frey. Together, we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.
Starting point is 00:00:45 Each season, we explore a new theme from poisoners to art thieves. We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching. And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story. Listen to Criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone, it's John, also known as Dr. John Paul.
Starting point is 00:01:15 And I'm Jordan, or Joe Ho. And we are the BlackFatFilm Podcast. A podcast where all the intersections of identity are celebrated. Ooh, chat, this year we have had some of our favorite people on including Kid Fury, T.S. Madison, Amber Ruffin from the Amber and Lacey Show, Angelica Ross and more. Make sure you listen to the Black Fat Fam podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Alpha Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts girl.
Starting point is 00:01:42 Oh I know that's right. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I collect my roommates toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives.
Starting point is 00:02:06 I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not.
Starting point is 00:02:31 No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, welcome back to Behind the Bastards, a podcast being recorded on a shockingly good week. We've all been in a real downswing since the election,
Starting point is 00:03:06 but some great news lately. A thing happened that we probably shouldn't joke about, but you know what it is. Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, Nick Fuentes got arrested, and our guest today is one of my favorite people, someone that the audience has not met before, but someone who has been a friend of mine for like
Starting point is 00:03:25 15 years great human I have told some stories about this person. Hold on to the great human stuff. Great human! My humanitarian friend Greasy Will Greasy with a Z Grammy award-winning
Starting point is 00:03:43 Audio engineer Grammy award-winning audio engineer. Yes, and proof that you can accomplish great things with half of a brain. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For the album, you win that Grammy for the album, Michael by Killer Mike.
Starting point is 00:03:56 My audience will also know you as the other person in that story where I had a light bulb fight in Santa Monica. Oh man, amazing man. Amazing times. You and I had some adventures. Yeah, and you know what's cool is, like, I mean, you know, I'm gonna have my best etiquette today because I am a Behind the Bastards fan because, you know, I listened to this show
Starting point is 00:04:19 because it's, like, hanging out with my friends still, you know? It's like every day that we've ever been together is, like, Robert against. I'm like, hey, man, you guys, you know? It's like every day that we've ever been together is like Robert gets, I'm like, hey man, you guys, you guys ever heard that story about the Egyptian guy? No, tell me more. Tell me more about this fucked up dude. And we had a lot of conversations
Starting point is 00:04:38 about when we were going to introduce you to the Behind the Bastards audience. And I have made a request for three separate topics and I have never told people those three topics that I have requested Robert to write about. But one of them is today. And I desperately wanted you on these episodes. So I'm very, very excited about this.
Starting point is 00:05:00 As a representative of the hip hop industry, it's appropriate that we are gathered here today to talk about P Diddy. Sean Puffy Combs. It has been an amazing opportunity to be here for this because you know there's a certain thing and I'm gonna try and be careful today because like there's when you're in the industry as deep as I am, I'm 15 years into doing this, it is, it's damn near impossible to miss the rumors, right?
Starting point is 00:05:32 It's like, and I actually had a, a huge viral, like TikTok right at the, uh, beginning of all this, when the first lawsuit dropped, when the Cassie lawsuit dropped, I had a viral TikTok that got like 10 million views because I was like, immediately I was like, ah, diddies go down, dude. Because there's certain people in the industry you've heard so many things about for so long that when that thing comes out and like the first damn breaks, that first little, the Dutch boy pulls his finger out or whatever, you know it is going to start uncovering ridiculous things. And I even said at the moment, I was like,
Starting point is 00:06:09 if the tabloids are starting to run with this stuff, it is only a matter of time before the feds get involved. Like the feds don't like looking stupid. They don't like looking bad like that. And when somebody is sex trafficking across countries. I'm not laughing at the sex trafficking. I'm just happy that he got caught. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:29 It's like you gotta know. It's like this was coming. It was going to happen. And when it opened up, when the dam opened up, it was like, ho ho ho ho ho ho ho, let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. At one point Robert was like,
Starting point is 00:06:42 at one point Robert was like, he had new baby goats. What kind of goats were they? That is the story that opens this podcast. Oh, great. Yeah, yeah, because you started by being like, in the industry, I've been hearing fucking rumors about P. Diddy for years. Well, roughly a year ago, my goat had little baby goats,
Starting point is 00:06:59 and one of them was a hybrid Nigerian angora mix with the softest hair I have ever felt on an animal that's not a chinchilla. Beautiful animal. Previously, I had gone with the rubric of naming my livestock after famous historic dictators because it amused me to have to, for example, cut the shit out of Joseph Brodstito's ass dreadlocks.
Starting point is 00:07:18 That's just kind of funny, right? But this particular goat was really cute, so I decided I wanted to give him a mirthful name. And I told Sophie, my producer, I'm gonna call him P. Diddy. Now, let me say here, I'm not a pop culture guy. I didn't know anything other than P. Diddy was like a rapper.
Starting point is 00:07:34 I actually didn't realize how into gangster rap he was, because again, not super aware of all this stuff. I was just like, oh, he's like a Snoop Dogg type figure. His image has never particularly been gangster rap. Like, no. Well, I mean, like his earliest- Not since he was having people killed. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:50 Yeah, he definitely took- It was more mogul. Yes, absolutely. That is a great way to say it. It's like he was the guy who has companies, the alcohol, Ciroc, he's got this, he's got shoes, he's got clothing, he's got all this stuff. Like, he definitely shifted like Ice Cube did to Disney movies.
Starting point is 00:08:06 It was like that immediate, oh man, you can get away with, not accusing Ice Cube of anything, but you can get away with so much more if you look a different way than the guy who's involved in multiple deaths and shootings. Sure, yeah. And yeah, so I was like, oh, just named P. Diddy, that's a fun name, right? Anyway, Sophie did her job which is to dive in front of bullets for her host as a producer
Starting point is 00:08:30 Called the Wednesday. Yeah and and said no you cannot name your goat after Diddy because he's a monster And I was like, oh and I looked into him and there wasn't a ton out at the time And then he got righted by the FBI a few months later. And I was like, oh, Sophie was right. It only took a minute. It didn't take long. It only gonna take a minute. It did not take long. It was a well-known secret most of my entire life
Starting point is 00:08:54 living in Los Angeles. I had missed it, yeah. Everybody, if you're in a certain kind of scene around the world, in the industry in LA, it's like you will always hear that some old, like it's like the caterers. It's the people that are like the service workers of the world. The engineers, the white dude in a room full of rappers
Starting point is 00:09:17 sitting at the desk that's like, oh shit. Really? They just say this out loud? And it's like sometimes it's secondhand sometimes But it's like you'll hear these things and it will be like some older like grizzly dude. That's like yeah, man Don't ever don't ever work for Kanye, man Or famously don't go to a diddy party Don't go to a diddy party don't hang out with Diddy
Starting point is 00:09:41 I had even watched earlier this year that movie Blink Twice and I was like, oh, this is kind of interesting, you know? And then I find out later like, oh, it's supposed to be about Diddy. Like this was a veiled way of talking about this guy. So if you're like me or if you're someone who knows more about Diddy, you know, the question is how did all this, like how did this guy get to where he is and get to do what he did for so long without having a downfall? And we are going to answer that question and more this week
Starting point is 00:10:09 on Behind the Bastards, a podcast about people I almost named goats after. And we're back. So Sean John Combs, which is kind of Sean John, which is the name of the clothing brand he's going to make later, was born on November 4th, 1969 in Harlem, New York. He was the son of Janice Combs, a former model who worked as a teacher's assistant most of his childhood.
Starting point is 00:10:40 His father, Melvin Earl Combs, had served in the Air Force, but later in life became a drug dealer He also he worked for a guy named Frank Lucas and does the name Frank Lucas mean anything to y'all? Hmm. No, he is if you've seen American gangster, that's the guy Denzel plays Sean's dad works for a very serious gangsters like played by Denzel serious, right? It's as the side if your goal is to make a movie about like crime is bad. Don't have Denzel play Gangster everyone wants to Aaron Taylor Johnson of situation, you know, yeah, you got to get like, you know, they're the right Yeah kind of feel for people. Yeah, Denzel is so handsome. What are they doing?
Starting point is 00:11:22 The right kind of feel for people. Yeah. Denzel's so handsome. What did they do with him? It was like the Gladiator 2 movie. Really wouldn't like, it would have been a totally different film. I thought he was a good guy the whole time. Yeah, I was like, no, I'm on board. I watched the whole movie and thought he was a good guy.
Starting point is 00:11:35 Get him. Oh, I guess we weren't supposed to like this guy. Oh, is he bad? I'm so confused, man. It's Denzel. He's wearing purple. What's not to like? He looked regal as fuck. I was just like, oh, man. I just donzel, he's wearing purple, what's not to like? He looked regal as fuck, I was just like, oh man, I just don't know.
Starting point is 00:11:48 He should be the emperor. Yeah, yeah. This seems fair. Yeah. So, tragically, Melvin Combs was never played by Denzel in a movie. Instead, he was assassinated, shot dead in his car in Central Park when he was 33 years old. Yikes.
Starting point is 00:12:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is Diddy's dad. That is a young one. Yes, yes. Sean is two years old at the time, so he never really knows his father. As a little boy, his dad's death served as a constant reminder of the consequences
Starting point is 00:12:17 of crime as a lifestyle, or at least that's what he would say. I don't know how true that is, because again, very involved in crimes. You know, it seems more like it was like a lesson on like, don't be the guy in the car getting smoked at 33, you know. Be the guy who Denzel winds up playing, right? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:34 Be up a couple levels. You know, you got some more wiggle room up there. Uh-huh. Yeah, don't be a private, be a general. Yeah. Yes. So his mom moved the family out of Harlem not long after Melvin's death taking them to Mount Vernon, a suburb of in Westchester County. Now as an adult going
Starting point is 00:12:51 by the name P Diddy, Sean would make a lot of statements about the poverty he was raised in because if you are coming up in hip hop in the way he did, you want to like act like you came from a really hard background. For sure. I mean, this is we will probably talk about this. I'm sure eventually at some point but like, this is the Tupac thing. Like he went to like a performing arts school, like he didn't grow up, I mean, his mom was a revolutionary activist or whatever, but he came up in a pretty decent kind of lifestyle,
Starting point is 00:13:17 and it wasn't until he got into that East Coast, West Coast beef that he gangstered up hard. Yeah, yeah, whereas, I mean, we're gonna talk about Biggie. Biggie does come from like a rough background. Like Biggie is in it. Selling cocaine instead of making record deals. Yeah. Now, and obviously Sean is massively exaggerating
Starting point is 00:13:35 how rough his background was. I don't wanna minimize like his dad getting shot when he's two, but his mom is like Tupac's mom, one of these people who works incredibly hard and is very responsible. She gives her kid a good degree, kids a lot of stability and comfort. Sean goes to a prestigious private school,
Starting point is 00:13:52 Mount St. Michael. It's a Catholic school. His family is very Catholic. He wears a uniform, he plays football. His mom describes him in interviews as having been an entrepreneur from a young age, starting his own paper. And not in the way that you often mean that in HipHop,
Starting point is 00:14:06 he starts a paper route as a kid, right? Like, yeah. In order to make money. She told the New Yorker, we had a Cadillac car and a house, and he liked life like that, right? So, yeah. Was the actual quote that he was an entrepreneur
Starting point is 00:14:23 at an early age, That was a direct quote. Yeah, there will be- Some Conor Roy ass shit. Conor Roy was interested in politics at a young age. There will be a lot of other stories like that. It's, again, I mean, this has been brought up many times on the show, but when kids show, kids show too much aptitude for something at a young age,
Starting point is 00:14:40 you gotta worry about it, you know? When your kid says he wants to be a CEO, look, I'm not saying you should do this legally, but maybe get him into it, you know? When your kid says he wants to be a CEO, look, I'm not saying you should do this legally, but maybe get him into drugs, you know? Slow him down a little bit, slow him down a little bit. Look, I got two kids now, you know, it's not, you don't just give them drugs, you leave them around. You just leave them on the street, they'll figure it out.
Starting point is 00:14:59 Yeah, put them outside and don't watch them enough. You know? Like my parents did. Yeah, yeah, that's how, and we all watch them enough. You know? Like my parents did. Yeah, yeah, that's, and we all turned out great. Your children could also be having light bulb fights in the streets of Santa Monica. And winning a Grammy. And winning Grammys.
Starting point is 00:15:18 So one story Diddy likes to tell is of the time his aunt baby sat him at her home, which was in a public housing project called the Patterson Houses in the Bronx. So again, his mom gets out to the suburbs, they own a home, other members of his family, obviously are a lot less comfortable. And the story he tells is that he wakes up,
Starting point is 00:15:35 sometimes he'll say, I woke up with 15 cockroaches on my face, which you didn't count the cockroaches, nobody would in that situation. You can feel a dozen cockroaches, but you can't count them as fat. You don't know the exact number, man. And in other recitations, he's less specific. I'm not saying this didn't happen.
Starting point is 00:15:52 I think it probably did, just knowing the other stuff about his life. But he also places- I've lived in decent places where cockroaches were on my face. I too have woken up with some cockroaches on my face. This apparently inspired him to seek wealth and success. Quote, and this is from him years later,
Starting point is 00:16:08 I was like, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm gonna get out of here. I'm gonna be somebody. I'm gonna own something and be able to take care of my family. I don't wanna live in these conditions no more. And again, you know, I'm not, maybe something like this happened.
Starting point is 00:16:22 He also does bring it up exactly the way you would if you're trying to like throw out in interviews scenes that people will put in a biopic about you, right? Right, yeah, for sure. That one sound bite that grabs you at the perfect time and they're like, yeah, man, like that's it. You're never gonna be anything, be Diddy. You'll never make it, kid.
Starting point is 00:16:42 You're gonna go down just like your father. Dead in the back of a car. Now, Diddy would later claim that the memory of this harrowing event inspired him whenever he made a change in his career. It was something that just kind of snaps on you. Don't take less in life and fight back. Those roaches still to this day, whenever I get comfortable,
Starting point is 00:17:00 I just remember them. I remember living in a situation where babies weren't changed for two or three days, and and everything smells and there's no food the memory is the thing that really fuels me to make sure that one day none of us have to live like that and Did he didn't do anything to make sure none of us had to live like that and you didn't live like that, right? Yeah You made sure you didn't have to live that way but Yeah fair enough. I mean like that is often, you made sure you didn't have to live that way, but Yeah, fair enough. No, but that's it. I mean like that is often, you know Whether true or not, you know, I like there's definitely probably essences of that
Starting point is 00:17:33 You know like of being true because like, you know, it's like that is the story of a lot of people in America right now It's like going through some really tough times and like seeing trying to like get there and like that is often the story Especially when it comes to successful people right right the music industry is like hey, man. I came up hard used to be anyways It's more nepo babies these days. Yeah, it's more nepo baby Was the great equalizer you know is like you could be poor and from nowhere and become the biggest in the world That's that's what music used to be so yeah yeah. And it's, I mean, like everything, it becomes more oligarchic as it fucking ages and gets sclerotic.
Starting point is 00:18:09 But like, it's also not weird. You know, I can say I didn't, I wouldn't say I had a hard upbringing. My parents were like poor when I was a little kid. Financial stress is like a lot of my earliest memories. And that's definitely part of why I have gone after money as an adult, right? Is because like, I didn't want to have screaming fights
Starting point is 00:18:25 in front of my partner about the fact that we couldn't afford rent or whatever, you know? That sucks. Absolutely. Like that's, a lot of people have had that experience. A lot of people deal with that now. It sucks ass. Like, so I don't doubt that some version of this is true,
Starting point is 00:18:37 right? That he encountered a lot of poverty around his family and was like, well, fuck that shit, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I do think it's interesting that like his connections with financial desperation are not direct, they're family members, right?
Starting point is 00:18:52 So he always, there's always this sense of like, I'm separate too from this, from the hardship, right? Like it's not direct to me, which is interesting. Now it's worth noting that Diddy as an adult told lots of inspirational stories about moments from his childhood that inspired him to later greatness. And maybe all of these are bullshit,
Starting point is 00:19:07 but let's hear him out. That's definitely a market he has, is the inspirational I climbed out of this. Even in his verses, it's often that. So can you! Yeah, yeah. But that's not exclusive to him, that's a lot of rap as well.
Starting point is 00:19:20 Right. So it kind of goes hand in hand. It's a bit of that, like that, that tail of like rising up out of the worst situations that makes like so many people respect and understand you as a, as a rapper. So, and I'll, I'll even say that's not, you know, that's a thing that rap gets from the same source that a lot of other, cause you see that in evangelical Christianity, the whole like, I was, you know, down and out, low,
Starting point is 00:19:45 high rising and low sliding, popping reds and busting heads, kicking indoors and banging whores. And then I met Jesus, that sort of fucking deal. Praise the Lord. It's this thing everybody gets from like, power of positive thinking, like hustle culture, where it's like, okay, you gotta have like the down and out story.
Starting point is 00:20:03 And then I had my realization and like you can do it too. It works for everything. It's not just MLAs. And just to tag on to that, I literally was just making fun of Nepo babies because it's like, so it's like, the opposite is literally when it comes to most of creative culture to be considered the worst you can be, to have privilege and everything. That's considered like the worst because it's like, well, you don't have to learn guitar for on a guitar that only had three strings and like, you know, was given to you by blind Willie down on the corner who definitely had tuberculosis and left us early type shit, you know?
Starting point is 00:20:37 Yeah. Yeah. That's just, that's just the way you like frame things if you want Americans to, to, if you want to be a fucking mogul. Anyway, here's a quote from something he said later in a CNN article. One day when he was a child, he asked his mother for a new pair of sneakers, but she couldn't afford them. He recalled in a 2016 CNN interview that his mother almost began to cry upon hearing his
Starting point is 00:20:57 request. That day he said, my hustle was born. And he's got a lot of that day, my hustle was born. That was the one day. His mom being like, we had a Cadillac, maybe she's exaggerating cause she doesn't want to admit that things were harder than they were. But I kind of think it might just be more that he wanted expensive sneakers and
Starting point is 00:21:14 his mom wasn't like, no, we don't have the money. His mom was like, no, you don't need those sneakers. I'm not going to spend $200 on sneakers for you. Like it wasn't, it wasn't my mom being like, we, we could go to Goodwill and find you a nice pair that you'll grow into type thing. It was like, oh you want $300 Nike's, like hard pass. It's a lot less inspirational to be like my story, which is like, I wanted a computer that could play Starcraft and my mom said no, you don't need that. I was like, well, I want to be able to buy my own computers when I grow up, right? Like that's not an inspirational story.
Starting point is 00:21:45 Yeah. That's not, like, yeah, nobody's going to put that in the biopic, you know, the music swells and you get a fucking razor. So yeah, one thing that we can definitely mark as a turning point in his life was a football injury that he acquired while playing for Mount St. Michael Academy.
Starting point is 00:22:04 He will always say, I was gonna be in the NFL. I was good enough to be in the NFL. He'll kind of insinuate he was being scouted by the NFL. I don't know that he was. I'm not entirely sure, but I'm pretty sure he's like five, nine or something, right? He's like, he's not a big guy. He's not a big guy, but there's positions for shorter guys.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Sure, for sure. Just to say, for the record, the amount of men that have told me, I was going to be- I could have been a contender. I was going to be in insert professional sporting league here. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:32 You're like, sir? Yeah, for sure. When I was in the Marines, there used to be a joke about, you know, everybody was gonna go to a great college. They had a full ride to go to a great college and they were all varsity, whatever. And they were gonna, one of the dudes in my platoon, he- it was so funny, he started off saying that he was gonna be- he was scouted to be the quarterback at USC,
Starting point is 00:22:52 and when everybody was like, dude, you were not scouted to be the quarterback, that's a prestigious position. We could have- we would have seen that, you would have been like in the news and shit, like that's a big deal. And he was like, I didn't say quarterback, I said cornerback. That's a big deal and he was like I didn't say quarterback. I said cornerback That was his way out of it Cornerback, you know one dude. I remember he used to he had like one of his pecs was bigger than the other and he said Yeah, man I was I was gonna play quarterback and and that my coach always had me bench in one side only you know and that's why my I was like what no one would do that
Starting point is 00:23:24 You know and that's why my I was like what no one would do that So I got every guy in the entire world if they played sports for like five seconds has like oh I was almost you know story could have been great could have been great then I broke my leg Yeah, I ran for 12 touchdowns if you've ever done that to me. Just know I was like Bullshit yeah, there's a certain inner bullshit detector I feel like you definitely have. Like you kind of like, it's like the Sophie I roll where it's just like, huh, yeah, like just, yeah, yeah, that right there, the smirk and the uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:23:54 Yeah. Sure, pal. It's a crucial life skill to develop. Sure, you've won a Grammy, I bet you have. That's why you keep it directly behind you. Oh, man. Now I will say whether or not he was almost in the NFL, his team was very good. They won the division title in 1986,
Starting point is 00:24:14 I think when he's a junior. So like he does play on a very good team. I'm sure he was not bad at it. I just don't know that he was in the NFL. That said, he does break his leg in his last year of high school, badly on the field, which ruins his pro dreams. Now, as a fun aside, Will, while I was reading, you're gonna love this, while I was researching these articles,
Starting point is 00:24:34 I found an old 2012 interview in the New York Times with Diddy. This is back during his, you know, mogul, you know, generally popular phase. And the article was about a movie that he had helped produce called Undefeated. This was based on an Oscar nominated documentary about a real life high school football coach named Bill Courtney, who was apparently pretty good. I don't know much about high school football coaches. You're from Texas,
Starting point is 00:24:58 how do you not know much about high school? It's like, I thought you believed that there. I fucking played high school football or middle school. I forget which year I was in football, but I played football. I didn't like it. I did a sport once. Yeah. I was not almost in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:25:12 It wasn't as fun as drugs, so. Now that I could have gone pro in, Will. Yeah, absolutely. I really could have been in the NFL of drugs. Absolutely. I still feel like I have a chance. Like I feel like I got like a field of dreams chance. In fact, you know, like.
Starting point is 00:25:30 I do wanna see the field of dreams of drugs. They put up a table in a field and just like drugs start materializing. Fucking John Belushi walks out of a cloud. Willie Nelson is like, he's not even dead, but he's the guy that gets to walk back on the field and get younger, he's the Ray Liotta. Andy Dick pulls himself up out of a sewer.
Starting point is 00:25:54 Oh my God. If you build it, they will come. The biggest bong ever, and just like a table of cocaine. We could make this movie. I feel like someone is going to rip this off from us. We better act quickly. Back to this story. So Diddy helps to produce this movie
Starting point is 00:26:18 about this high school football's coach named Bill Courtney and he's interviewed in the Times about it. And in the interview, Combs talks about his own football experiences in high school and he laments, I didn't have a coach like Bill Courtney who stood by me and helped motivate me in everything. I was envious, to be honest. He's kind of insinuating that a better of coach might have helped him overcome his broken leg or whatever. Right, right.
Starting point is 00:26:38 Anyway. He could have healed me with his witch doctor ways. Right, right, right. Anyway, the best part of that interview, though, is that Combs was working as a producer on the remake of that documentary with the Weinstein Company. And the interview with him in the Times includes this line next, quote, Combs said he and Harvey Weinstein had been trying to do something together for seven years. And yeah, bro, I'll bet you guys were. Yeah. I bet you had a couple projects you were in on.
Starting point is 00:27:08 Yeah, yeah absolutely. It is almost like, I hate whenever people start like, cause like every time some of this stuff comes out, you know, that like a certain person's like a grease bag, then it's like every person that's ever been in a picture with them is suspect, you know, and it's like oh this person, this person, this person, this person. And it's like, yeah, but like not all those people are actually doing bad shit. Some of them are just taking advantage of somebody's like status to up themselves a little bit or meet people or whatever.
Starting point is 00:27:34 But also, yeah, a lot of times they are all together. Yeah, a lot of times, the whole Harvey Weinstein connection maybe should have been a sign. Yeah, a lot of times they're absolutely running a fucking little circle jerk over there with each other. You know? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:48 Now, it was during Sean's high school years that he first acquired. Oh, actually, you know what? Speaking of Sean's high school years, you know what'll help you get through high school? Drugs? Well, and the products and services that support this podcast.
Starting point is 00:28:00 Fair enough. Hey, everyone. Fair enough. Uh... Hey everyone, it's John, also known as Dr. John Paul. And I'm Jordan, or Joe Ho. And we are the Black Fat Film Podcast. A podcast where all the intersections of identity are celebrated. Ooh, chat! This year we have had some of our favorite people on, including Kid Fury, T.S. Madison, Amber Ruffin from the Amber and Lacey Show, Angelica Ross and more. Make sure you listen to the Black Fat Fam podcast on the iHeartRadio app, have a podcast
Starting point is 00:28:34 or whatever you get your podcast girl. Oh, I know that's right. And we're back. I hope you've all graduated and you are ready for the rest of the pod. And don't join the military like I did because it is not going to be a good idea. When you graduate, man, do anything else. But the recruiter says, I can even pick my MOS. Did I ever tell you that I had a friend that thought he was joining the Marine Corps snowboarding team His recruiter literally showed him pictures of dudes on snowboards and was like yeah, man If you he was like from Colorado
Starting point is 00:29:18 And he thought he was joining like he was like two weeks into being in the fleet and he was like so when does the snowboarding is the guy from the snowboarding team gonna like hit me up or like how do I get over there like bro we are deploying for Iraq in like seven minutes you are not going to the Marine Corps there isn't even a Marine Corps snowboarding team there ought to be like an Olympic for military recruiter lies once up there oh there's so many I had another friend who literally military recruiter lies. The snowboarding ones up there. Oh my god, there's so many beautiful, I had another friend who literally, the recruiter, he came in and he was like,
Starting point is 00:29:50 yeah man, I wanna be in infantry. He's like, and the recruiter like, like slow played him. He's like, well, I don't know, man. It's, it's pretty exclusive. Yeah. And he got on the phone with like his master sergeant in the back room. He's like a car dealer being like, my boss agreed.
Starting point is 00:30:06 He, we're going to, we'd never do this. We're going to do what we can for you. We're going to, you know, we're going to hook you up, man. You seem like a pretty, pretty wise individual. You know, you really, you do, you belong up in infantry, man. Yeah. We can get you in, man. Fuck it.
Starting point is 00:30:21 So it was during Sean's high school years that he first acquired the nickname Puffy, and we have two different stories for how that happened. Here's the first as related in an article on Hip Hop Insider. He used to puff out his chest to make his body seem bigger, which is where the name originated. Maybe that's true. That's what his mom said. I remember seeing his mom in an interview that said the same thing, that that's where
Starting point is 00:30:41 it came from. Because he wasn't a big dude, back to the point earlier. And there's a slightly different story that he told in 1998 to Jet Magazine. Whenever I got mad as a kid, I used to always huff and puff. I had a temper. That's when my friends started calling me Puffy. Right. Yeah, but, you know, they're not necessarily exclusive.
Starting point is 00:30:58 I mean, you know, they're not at odds with each other. They might be both at the same. He likes to puff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like he's got a thing. He's like one of those fish. Yeah Anytime he's threatened he gets big. Oh man and puffer fish infamous sex criminals Do not let your friends go home alone with a puffer fish
Starting point is 00:31:14 I remember that in Finding Nemo that was one of the subplots of finding you as a puffer fish were sex criminals Yes, yeah, at least pests. There are sex pests at least. Sex pests, yeah. So with football out of the way, young Sean leaned into the other less discussed aspect of his personality, which was that he was kind of an artsy theater kid. Diddy had a reputation at his private school for being neatly dressed and in college for wearing designer clothes, which he funded through a variety of legal entrepreneurial ventures. For example, in between classes, this is again when he's at colleges at Howard University, he would operate a shuttle service to the airport
Starting point is 00:31:50 and he would also sell his old term papers, T-shirts and soda to his classmates. So again, entrepreneur but not exactly a gangster. Roe Ronan's book, Bad Boy, which covers Diddy's influence on the hip hop industry, paints a picture of a young man who was, beyond everything else, an opportunist.
Starting point is 00:32:07 At one point, while he's at Howard, there's this massive protest campaign on the campus over the presence of Lee Atwater on the University Board of Trustees. And again, Howard is a historically black university. Lee Atwater is the author of the Republican Party's infamous Southern Strategy, which I cannot relate directly to you without using the N word repeatedly. You had me at Republican Party.
Starting point is 00:32:31 I was there. I was there already. You were just edging me from there. The basic idea of the strategy that Lee Atwater helps put together is that you can't campaign in 1968. Or before 1968, you can campaign by just screaming about black people and saying you want to hurt them, right? By 68, you can't campaign in 1968, or before 68, you can campaign by just screaming about black people and saying you want to hurt them, right? By 68, you can't do that.
Starting point is 00:32:48 So you have to instead campaign on issues that will hurt black people, but that you can pretend aren't racist, like fiscal conservatism, cutting programs that help black Americans without calling them slurs, right? That's Lee Atwater. So obviously Howard University students are like, the fuck is this guy doing
Starting point is 00:33:05 on the board of trustees? Hey bro, you forgot your hood, man. Let me set you up. That is essentially the tenor of the protest campaign. Now, Sean's peers rightly thought it was fucked up for this guy to have a seat on the Howard board, and they do win. I'm gonna, spoiler, he winds up stepping down. Every now and then, plugging a CEO in broad daylight on a city street does something. Right.
Starting point is 00:33:28 Protests work. Protests can work. So there's this big protest campaign. There's clashes with riot police. They occupy buildings and campus. It's a whole thing. How far you have to go to get one white man fired from now on. One white man fired, yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:44 In the book, It Was All a Dream, culture journalist Justin Tinsley writes this of sophomore Sean Colmes's involvement in this protest campaign. For Colmes, the student protests in the spring of 89 presented an opportunity to unite the student body and put some money in his pockets at the same time. Colmes took images from the protests, photos of students and police clashing
Starting point is 00:34:04 and students being whisked away and printed up some posters. And he like sells posters based on this. So he's like, he's a profiteer. Yeah. A write up by Chris Malone goes further. Future producer and coworker of Diddy's, Derek D. Angioletti, was at Howard at the same time as Diddy and saw how he made a quick buck from the protests. In the 2003 notorious B.I.G. documentary, Unbelievable, he spoke about Diddy and saw how he made a quick buck from the protests. In the 2003 notorious B.I.G.
Starting point is 00:34:25 documentary, Unbelievable, he spoke about Diddy's photo enterprise during the protests. He made hundreds of them and sold them for 10 and 15 dollars a piece, Angeletti said. That's the type of guy I saw. All this protest shit is well and good, but who's getting paid off it? He was ready. Yeah. This is the 80s? Yeah, 89 Yeah, so I mean yeah, so 10 to 15 bucks That's that's a lot of money, too That's not that's not cheap like we think of 10 to 15 bucks now it but in 89 10 to 15 bucks like yeah It was like 700 800 dollars. Yeah It's a lot more money. Whatever the math works out to but yes, absolutely
Starting point is 00:35:01 Yeah, this was back when a dime bag cost $10, and that wasn't cheap. Yeah, yeah, there used to be. Yeah. There used to be, I remember. We used to be a country. We had onions on our belts. It was a style at the time. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:15 Amusingly enough, in 2009, Diddy made statements in support of another protest movement at Howard, promising, I got y'all back, and saying, do what we did, and take it over. Let let's go and do it in a peaceful way but do it and again you did not take anything over you sold pictures of people doing that you like we were looking back through a lens so it's easy to like see like oh he probably was kind of like but you want to believe that like any when you heard this earlier
Starting point is 00:35:43 you know did he telling this story you were like Good for you speaking up for the kids. Yeah, you did it man But like and then like hearing it in retrospect, you just like you know, you know, everything that he did was slimy Yeah, just always pulling an angle. He was not facing a riot line to get at water fucking fired Right if you're one of those if you or your parents did, good for them. That's pretty cool. Yeah, good for them, man. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:09 So a good deal of our knowledge of college-age diddy comes from Derek Angeletti, who I quoted earlier. He's the guy who described young Puffy as a flashy guy. Quote, he was always out at the clubs and the young girls loved him. That's a creepier line in modern context. He'd be in the middle of the floor doing all the new dance moves and his style of dress was a little more colorful, bolder. Everyone took notice of
Starting point is 00:36:31 this cool, overconfident young dude. I was DJing at the time and one night he came up to me and said, I'd like to throw a party with you. You're pretty popular. And that's kind of how Diddy, Diddy's really good at recognizing people that other people like. That's his primary talent. He becomes a billionaire off the basis of that. You will definitely see, especially in the music industry, there's so many, there's such a wide ranging culture of that being the thing. It's like the Lou Pearlman or the, you know,
Starting point is 00:37:01 or the Diddy or the Jay-Z with Rock, Rockefeller, you know, it's like Rock Nation, you know, it's like all these different organizations, that's what they're looking for all the time, is like who is the thing that other people can look at and be, because like that's what it takes, you have to have a stable of people for everything.
Starting point is 00:37:19 To have a party, you gotta have the best caterer in the world, but you also gotta have the best DJ, and you also gotta have, you know, it's like that's what all those people are the best caterer in the world, but you also gotta have the best DJ. And you also gotta have, you know, it's like, that's what all those people are the best at, is collecting a whole bunch of the best ofs that they know. Yeah, and that's like, I mean, honestly, like that's also just an entertainment industry thing. Like, you know, Sophie and I,
Starting point is 00:37:38 that's a skill we have in a different way, right? Like I- Yeah, yeah, you got a stable of really cool podcasts. Yeah, a year or so ago. I'm reading this Ed Zitron guy, and I'm like, you got a stable of really cool podcasts. Yeah, a year or so ago. I'm reading this Ed Zitron guy, and I'm like, I bet he could be a podcaster. That is just kind of the industry too.
Starting point is 00:37:51 That's like how you, and he's going, Diddy's gonna be one of the best at it. And one day you will unify the entirety of all podcasters in the world, takeovers. So what's the goal of podcasting? Or start an East Coast West Coast podcast rivalry. Get Ed shot in a fucking conflict with one of the NPR guys. Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:38:14 Oh man. Another movie idea. You guys are welcome. Yeah, great movie. I'm making Ed the Biggie Smalls of podcasting here. Sorry man, you've cooked. Enjoy the next couple of years, buddy. So Combs took things a few steps further
Starting point is 00:38:32 than most people who throw popular parties on campus by sometimes successfully convincing or paying celebrities to show up. He included his name on flyers with their name, which is part of how he would brand himself, right? You're attaching yourself to celebrity. You're also just making sure everyone who goes to this huge party with like 1500 people
Starting point is 00:38:49 knows that's a diddy party, right? Yeah, reputation is everything. That and he's good at reputation management. He prints business cards for himself that he hands out. They have his name engraved on them as Sean in parentheses, Puff Combs. Just one F. So he's still working on the nickname, right?
Starting point is 00:39:08 That's a bad, that's a bad bet. That's a bad bet. It's a process, it's a process. I'm workshopping some stuff here, guys. I'm doing the best I can. I knew you before you were Greasy Will. Yeah, his friends are like Puff, Puff, P-U-F. There shouldn't at least be two Fs.
Starting point is 00:39:22 It's like damn near poof, bro. Like, I don't know, man. It's gonna be confusing. Just a board room of guys? Yeah. Oh man. That's one of my, by the way, speaking of like wasted old people are lying,
Starting point is 00:39:35 what am I, because this comes up periodically when people will like lie about having been in the military or special forces. If anyone ever tells you they served and they had a really cool nickname, full of shit. Yeah. Nobody gets called the Avenger or fucking Killer or whatever, like no.
Starting point is 00:39:53 It's always like sack. Yes. Or like two thumbs. Yeah, shit stain. You're like, oh man, there's nothing about thumbs that could have been a good story. So these parties with Diddy grow to be sizable affairs, but the biggest of them was a homecoming event at a Masonic temple.
Starting point is 00:40:16 1500, which actually does sound pretty cool. Yeah, that sounds banging. Yeah, 1500 attendees were expected, but Sean's marketing of the event was so successful, more than 4,500 people showed up, which causes a problem when three times as many people show up. And this is going to be a continuing problem for him. Angeletti later claimed,
Starting point is 00:40:34 "'The DC police shut down the whole block "'and brought out the dogs. "'We had to get on our knees "'and beg them not to lock us up,' "'which again, not super gangster.'" Yeah, getting on your knees and begging is not exactly fuck the police. No Biggie wouldn't have done that I'll tell you that. Tupac would have shot those cops
Starting point is 00:40:52 100% Tupac would have shot those cops and he wasn't even that gangster man but he would have shot them cops. Snoop Dogg would have shot them cops man. We forget man this guy's hosting New Year's celebration that he should but that guy would shoot some cops. That guy was hardcore. That was Martha Stewart's friend. Weekly parties were all well and good for getting attention, but Sean wanted much more out of life. And he quickly decided a business administration
Starting point is 00:41:18 degree from Howard wasn't going to get it for him. So he drops out, and he starts begging record executives in New York for jobs, using his party planning career as a resume. This did not work. But when he reduced the request from job to unpaid internship, he got a yes from Uptown Records' Andre Harrell. Now this is not a guy I'd heard of before,
Starting point is 00:41:37 but Sheila Flynn for the Independent describes him as the man who quote, famously coined the term ghetto fabulous. So yeah, that's Andre Harrell. He's a big guy in the industry. She describes his time interning for Uptown this way. Combs initially commuted weekly between college and his hometown,
Starting point is 00:41:56 working 80 hour weeks as he literally ran to complete errands for his record superiors. And it wasn't long before he quit Howard altogether. By 1991, Harrell had installed him as an A&R executive, and Combs was forging a reputation for identifying and molding top-tier talent. So he goes very quickly from unpaid intern to paid executive.
Starting point is 00:42:13 He's very good at this. He works like crazy, and he's got an incredible eye for talent. And this is also, 91, rap is exploding. Yeah, yeah, yeah, perfect timing for it all. So just for the, there's an actual term for that in the industry called a runner. It's literally because you are in fact running
Starting point is 00:42:32 for everything you do. You go and get things all throughout the day. It's the first job you do in almost any like music industry position. So it's like this is what I did. I was an intern and then I became a runner and then an assistant engineer and then an engineer. But that's how you like work up with and it's like this is what I did. I was an intern and then I became a runner and then an assistant engineer and then an engineer, but that's how you like work up with.
Starting point is 00:42:47 And it's crazy something that people don't like, it's not like being an actor, right? Like doing some of these jobs, like what Diddy did here, some of these jobs, it's not like being an actor. You get out here and you're competing against just like everybody working at every diner in all of Los Angeles, right? Like doing some of these specific jobs like A&Rs or producers or engineers, you can get into the industry and be one step away from the top immediately. There's so many stories of
Starting point is 00:43:17 that is like you get it. My first job, I lived in Texas where we met in Texas. I was playing in a metal band and then I was like, oh, I should maybe like do music for in Texas. I was playing in a metal band and then I was like Oh, I should maybe like do music for a career. I went to school for nine months graduated from a tech school and started at the biggest studio in the world as a runner But I was so good because my background in the military and all the stuff that I was in I was a runner for like three weeks before I was like working for the studio as an engineer. So it was like, you're only a very, very short insert. It's like attacking the industry from
Starting point is 00:43:52 a secret angle because you can do things like it's so fast. It's like your first job might be working for the president of a label. You know, if you have the right aptitude for the type of stuff, it could happen just like that. Now it's still competitive and everything, you know, and it's really hard, but it's a different thing from like being like an actor or a musician where you're competing against thousands and thousands of people in the same proximity trying to do that job. It's kind of like a hack to get into the industry. Well there you go, folks.
Starting point is 00:44:22 You could have your own Grammy. You're welcome. And maybe even be a guest on this podcast. And more tips like this on my TikTok, Greasy Wheel Music. I don't have any tips for becoming a journalist or a writer. It's very hard, and it seems like no one's doing it anymore. I don't know how it worked for us. Get chat GPT and just plug a subject in and then post that on a website
Starting point is 00:44:49 There you go. You're a type the Lord of the Rings into into chat GPT and you too could be a novelist Or sued by the Tolkien estate either way same death. Yeah, so He's you know by 91. he's an A&R executive. So he's doing, like while he does that, he continues throwing parties. He understands that that's number one, that's how I'm going to meet people. That's how I'm going to run into DJs, the people that I'm going to like poach, you know, as talent. He would throw what is described in one source as racially mixed daddy's house parties for
Starting point is 00:45:23 street kids and preppy students from Columbia University and New York University. And this is where that's Ronan who wrote a book about, you know, his role in hip hop says, quote, that's where he saw what fans were dancing to and wearing. So this is also how he stays plugged in. Now, you know, it's, I should say, it's also how he's going to be committing
Starting point is 00:45:43 a lot of his sex crimes, but we'll get to that in a minute. So, yeah, daddy's house parties don't go great for a lot of people. He's a drug addict. Oh yeah, you brought your soundboard. I had two choices. And he makes the choice next to kill nine people.
Starting point is 00:46:03 So, he's 22 years old. He's going as puff with one F. He makes the choice next to kill nine people. Oh, solid move. He's 22 years old. He's going as Puff with one F. He's a college dropout and an employed record executive. And one of the acts that Sean helps bring to prominence is Jordicke, J-O-R-D-E-C-I. I don't know if it's print. Jordash?
Starting point is 00:46:19 Jordash, the gene company? Yes, yes, he discovers that, no. Jordicke is an R&B duo who are blowing up by 91. Oh, Jodeci? Wait, what are you saying? Is it Jodeci? It's J-O-R-D-E-C-I. Oh, you're saying, hold on, hold on.
Starting point is 00:46:34 Is it Jodeci? I'll look it up, no, no, no, I can't. No, no, no, it's, it's not, oh my God. It's not, okay, so hold on. What's the name? J-O-R-D-E-C-I? No, no, no, the way that Robert has it spelled, there's an R in there, but I think Will is right
Starting point is 00:46:48 that it's Jodeci. Is it Jodeci? Okay, we'll say it's Jodeci. Cause that's an R&B duo. They're an R&B duo, yes. Then it's called, look, I don't know these, you know me in fucking pop culture. Yeah, it's not Jodeci, it's a Jo-
Starting point is 00:47:02 There's a D in there. Yeah, I mean, you know, it could be, I don't know. We might be wrong here, but- Yeah, Jodeci. No, no, no, it is, it is. Yeah, Combs decided a good way to increase Jodeci's visibility was to throw a charity basketball game,
Starting point is 00:47:16 pitting two teams of rappers against each other while fans watched. The event was to be held in the City College of New York gym. Once again, Diddy did what he does best, which is promote. And so a shitload of people show up. In fact, several times as many people as can fit in the actual gym itself.
Starting point is 00:47:34 This becomes a problem because Sean doesn't do anything but promote the event. And he just kind of- Doesn't set up any of the safety measures, any of the staff, any of the bathrooms, none of that. He has two of his assistants who have never run large gatherings do that. Uh, and he does not inform them, by the way, every time I do something several times, as many people as we can actually support show up, could be a problem.
Starting point is 00:47:55 He just has his, it tells his assistants to handle it and then forgets all about it. Largely because his attention is occupied by executing fraud to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars because the game had been advertised as a charitable event, but like he hadn't told anyone what charity and Charity, yeah, what kind of charity, you know, it's like kids with stuff that need stuff, you know problems As someone who has been that assistant that had to organize like like I've been this guy been this guy that had to put together a house party with three bands and like 500 people show up and the LAPD is circling with a helicopter and then I have to be the
Starting point is 00:48:33 representative of white people to go out and talk to cops so that it's okay one of the artists I used to work with, he used to always be like, yo, hey man, the cops are here, so, yeah, you wanna go talk to them? Oh yeah, man, he's like, you know, you speak like cops and like white people and stuff, like, alright, I got it, I got it, yeah. Go outside like, hey gentlemen, how you doing tonight? Oh yes sir, absolutely sir, you know? Like, oh, the dogs, you don't need those. So there's no beneficiary actually selected for this party, and for the more than $24,000 in 1990s money
Starting point is 00:49:13 that had been raised for the event. Further blame for what's about to happen goes to the police on duty. Sean's assistants had only coordinated with Pinkerton security guards hired by the university. Yeah, there's Pinkertons in this. Everybody legendarily protective of people and safe and never hurt nobody than Pinkertons.
Starting point is 00:49:31 And the university had increased to the number of security guards to 23 because they started getting worried before the event. But the NYPD just sends a few guys. And when it becomes clear that more than twice as many people as expected showed up, the sergeant on scene doesn't call for backup until it's too late eventually there are like 60 something officers in attendance But it takes a while and the sergeant on duty also ignores repeated calls by the university being like there's way too many people
Starting point is 00:49:56 There's way too many people you need to do something. There's going to be a riot and in fact there is yeah They ignored the neighbors at our parties too, man. They just did not listen to them. So once it becomes clear, because they have to tell this huge crowd, most of you are not getting in, and then the crowd gets rowdy and violent, and a riot begins.
Starting point is 00:50:17 The NYPD officers who were there are as useless as the NYPD tends to be when they're ever there actually needed for something. And things go very badly. At 7 p.m, with far too many people crowded into the venue, the single door they had been using to funnel people in was shut. Since that door was steel and at the bottom of a stairwell, with the crowd basically pushed up against it, it creates a solid barrier in a room that has four more people than are supposed to be in it. People panic and a crush develops. Dozens are injured and nine young people are crushed to death, literally asphyxiated by the weight of the crowd. Medical
Starting point is 00:50:54 examiners will note that like none of them had broken bones. They are just suffocated by the mass of people. I mean for those of you know like I have been to a lot of concerts, I've been into metal music. Sometimes it feels kind of like, how could you be killed by a bunch of people? But if you have never seen a crowd or been in a crowd, even I, I'm a fairly large person myself, I'm not huge or anything, and I'm pretty okay with bad situations. I've been in some crowd crush situations that have terrified me, I'm like, this is like scary, like this is bad. If you've never been in those situations,
Starting point is 00:51:28 it's really easy to understand if you have like, what that's like, it's like, even a few hundred people can be like that. And you're talking about three times the capacity of a venue, you know? That's like so easy for a crowd to just crush the shit out of some people. Like one of the best survival advice pieces I can give you is if you are ever in any kind of event and upon entering,
Starting point is 00:51:50 you're, like, your only way to get in is to push through a crowd of people with absolutely no gaps in it, and you immediately have, like, the hair stand up on the back of your neck and wonder, are there too many people in this room? Fucking back the hell out. Yeah, there is. Get out. Go. Leave. There absolutely is, and it is not a good idea. Don't fuck around with situations like that.
Starting point is 00:52:09 Next thing you know, you're gonna be surrounded by a bunch of juggalos at an ICP concert at the electric factory and feel really uncomfortable. So this is a horrible, again, nine people die because of this thing that Diddy has orchestrated one EMT This is this is early. This is episode one One episode of this or we won episode two episodes. There's more deaths to come There's two there's two but Robert I kind of feel like we can do this as a three-parter. I don't know
Starting point is 00:52:39 Maybe we'll see one. You see what happened Yeah, one EMT who showed up on scene described the result as a plane crash without a plane. There were bodies all over. People calling for help. That's a very bad way for your party to be. Although you and I have both thrown parties that I would describe as looking like a plane crash afterwards.
Starting point is 00:52:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But a cool plane crash. Yeah, it was a very cool plane crash, man. It's like, you just feel like you're dead. It's like where people are like, man, that was the best night of my life type plane crash, man. You just feel like you're dead. Where people are like, man, that was the best night of my life type plane crash. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like the plane crash in Yellow Jackets.
Starting point is 00:53:12 I haven't finished Yellow Jackets. I assume it goes well for those girls. It goes well, yeah, yeah, no cannibalism. This would mark the first time that Sean Colmes drew media attention in a big way. New York Newsday was one of the papers who first got reporters on scene, andday was one of the papers who first got reporters on scene and years later one of them recalled being told by a colleague,
Starting point is 00:53:28 the organizer was some guy called Puff Daddy. In the days that followed, it became clear that a substantial amount of the blame for this disaster lay with Puff Daddy. Puff Daddy, Puff Daddy. A report compiled afterwards by the mayor's office read, Mr. Colmes spent little time making the actual preparation for the game and delegated most, if not all, of the arrangements to Lewis Tucker and Terry Getter, both of whom claimed to have no prior experience with such events.
Starting point is 00:53:54 I found a fun article in the Columbia Journalism Review by one of the reporters who covered the crush, and this is him writing after Diddy has been disgraced. His piece ended with this line, I do remember thinking, man, this puffy guy can't have much of a future after this Let me tell you about America my brother This is the thing though too is like it's like, you know that happened, right? But I can't tell you how many events how many things I've been to that have been like, you know thrown like this a concert
Starting point is 00:54:23 It's like like dude. I've been to that have been like, you know, thrown like this, like concerts, like, like dude, I've been at a riot fest, which is like a major concert that has felt like this, where it's like they didn't plan this very well. There's not enough things here. It seems dangerous. And the fine line between, man, we just pulled off this crazy party and nine people died is, it's razor thin, you know? There is sometimes where it's like, this is the coolest party I've ever been to, and then, and it doesn't go completely wrong,
Starting point is 00:54:48 but it could have at any time. One of those house parties, we had, we had 200 people and they're raging in the living room. And I thought for, I started standing closer to the wall because I was like, this floor is gonna give out, man. There's no way. This could end badly. This house could not be designed
Starting point is 00:55:02 to have this many people jumping up and down like this. Yeah, and you know, a lot of being happy, especially like being happy about how you spent your 20s, is getting as close to that line as you can get without crossing over into the killing nine people at City College. Yeah, yeah, yeah, risking it. Yeah, I've been on the edge. Yeah, the edge is a place, but it's also a place that's called the edge for a reason, because sometimes nine people fall off of it. It's a place where legends are made, Robert. You just, you know, hey man, you know, sometimes you gotta get right up to the edge and just live in life, man.
Starting point is 00:55:37 L-F-V-I-N. Yep. Hunter Thompson wrote eloquently about the edge and also died unable to hold in his bowels. So, you know, that is the consequence. It's not a long life. It's not a long life. So, because this is America, getting a bunch of people killed due to your own staggering negligence does not mean that you don't have... No problem whatsoever, yeah. Yeah, none at all. And Puff Daddy proves immune to consequences for his actions, even though, again, every review of the disaster is like, he's to blame for a lot of this.
Starting point is 00:56:08 Now, again, I don't want to say all of it, because let's not forget the NYPD. Yeah, of course. They also got those kids killed. Look, there is never a time where the NYPD hasn't been a little bit negligent and some people dying in New York City. It's like, you know, it's what they do best.
Starting point is 00:56:24 That's part of their, that's what they get paid for, of course. Yeah. The NYPD operates one of the largest surveillance apparatuses on the planet so that they can know more places to get kids killed. Um, so. So, naturally. Puff Daddy winds up testifying in court about the disaster
Starting point is 00:56:40 when the families of the dead and the survivors sued the college. After a 1998 court appearance, he told reporters. Oh, so they didn't go after him at all, they just went for the college? No dead and the survivors sued the college. After a 1998 court appearance, he told reporters- Oh, so they didn't go after him at all, they just went for the college? No, no, go after the college. I think at this point, the college is who has money. He's not rich.
Starting point is 00:56:52 Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's a kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good point, yeah, no reason to go after him, he's got nothing. Yeah, what's he gonna do for you? After a 1998 court appearance, he told reporters that like, I think about it every day, I think about the dead every single day.
Starting point is 00:57:04 I'm always, my thoughts are always with them. Quote, but the things that I deal with can in no way measure up to the pain that the families deal with. I just pray for the families and pray for the children who lost their lives every day. So he literally wrote, I'll be missing you like, I'll be missing you.
Starting point is 00:57:20 About the people who got crushed to death. Yeah, like right off the, every day, man Every time I pray man, I'll be missing you. He hit him early with that. He did, he did! Right away! It's a thing that always works for him! Get the hits man, play the hits! I can't wait till we have our first dictator who takes a note at us, who like fucking like uses chemical weapons on a crowd of protesters and is then gets in like a studio and sings I'll be missing you Pro tip for the future dictators who listen to this podcast
Starting point is 00:57:59 There's got to be one of you and look a banger ready to go Have a banger ready to go and look if youanger ready to go. And look, if you do succeed in becoming a dictator, just give me a province. Just one province is all I ask for. Oh, hell yeah. I mean, let me, you know, I'll make a golden house for my, of course I'm gonna make a golden house, you know?
Starting point is 00:58:15 But like, it'll be gold plated. I'm not that much of a crook. As one does, you know? As one does. You can bring your Grammy over to my gold plated house, Will. Yeah, man. We'll take shots out of it. Hell yeah. Now, speaking of It'll take shots out of it.
Starting point is 00:58:25 Hell yeah. Now speaking of I'll be missing you, I'm going to be missing you all because this is the end of part one, but don't worry folks. We have a lot more coming. This whole week is going to be Diddy Week here at Behind the Bastards. Diddy Week. Will, my friend, you have a TikTok to plug. I have a TikTok. I am GreasyWillMusic.
Starting point is 00:58:47 I have a podcast that's called That Sounds About Right. I have an Instagram that you can find me. I'm GreasyWill, G-R-E-A-Z-Y-W-I-L-1-L, because the second one wasn't pulling any heavy weight, and I decided I was wasting time doing it. Fuck that L. Yeah, fuck that L. But I am highly Googleable, I am all over the internet, I can be found almost anywhere.
Starting point is 00:59:11 You could even send a telegram to me still. I accept telegrams, as long as they are Western Union and contain money as well. Yes, yeah, yeah. I send you telegrams, but entirely about our oil business down in the Arizona territory. I drank your milkshake! That's right, that's right. That's how you and I spend our free time.
Starting point is 00:59:34 Being old timey oil men. It's a great time everybody. Well, until next week folks, become an old timey oil man yourself, you know? Start an oil rig somewhere. Next week, folks, become an old timey oil man yourself, you know? Start an oil rig somewhere. Next week, next part. Next part, yeah, next part. Not next week, we'll be back tomorrow probably. Yeah. Anyway, until-
Starting point is 00:59:54 Minutes from now, just hold your breath. We're gonna keep recording, yes. Yeah. Anyway, I love you all. Go to hell. Behind the Bastards is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonedmedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Behind the Bastards is now available on YouTube.
Starting point is 01:00:20 New episodes every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to our channel, youtube.com slash at behind the bastards. Welcome to Decisions Decisions, the podcast where boundaries are pushed and conversations get candid. Join your favorite hosts, me, Weezy WTF. And me, Mandy B. As we dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love.
Starting point is 01:00:46 That's right. Every Monday and Wednesday, we both invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, we share our personal journeys navigating our 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engage in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations.
Starting point is 01:01:06 From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that'll resonate with your experiences, Decisions Decisions is going to be your go-to source for the open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections. Tune in and join in the conversation. Listen to Decisions Decisions your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections.
Starting point is 01:01:25 Tune in and join the conversation. Listen to Decisions Decisions on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarchi. And I'm Holly Frey. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime. Each season we explore a new theme from poisoners to art thieves.
Starting point is 01:01:49 We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures from legal injustices to body snatching. And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story. Listen to Criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's John, also known as Dr. John Paul. And I'm Jordan, or Joe Ho.
Starting point is 01:02:17 And we are the BlackFatFilm Podcast. A podcast where all the intersections of identity are celebrated. Ooh, chat, this year we have had some of our favorite people on including Kid Fury, T.S. Madison, Amber Ruffin from the Amber and Lacey show, Angela Carras and more. Make sure you listen to the Black Fat Fam podcast on the iHeart Radio app. Have a podcast or whatever you get your podcast girl.
Starting point is 01:02:41 Ooh, I know that's right. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist
Starting point is 01:03:04 and try to learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy.
Starting point is 01:03:26 There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my god. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 01:03:45 or wherever you get your podcasts.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.