What To Know
- The Netflix docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning exposes disturbing allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
- The series highlights specific incidents such as the deadly 1991 City College basketball game.
- Testimonies from former associates and artists detail experiences of sexual harassment, intimidation, and threats, further revealing the dark side of Combs’ legacy.
Warning: The following post contains discussions of sexual assault, domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and acts of violence.
Netflix’s Sean Combs: The Reckoning is a four-episode docuseries that examines the life of the rapper and artist Sean “Diddy” Combs, whose career has long been intertwined with controversy, power, and cultural influence. The series delves into the rise of his music empire, the people who helped shape it, and the allegations and events that have come to define the darker side of his legacy.
Combs was indicted in 2024 on federal charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation for prostitution. In July 2025, a jury acquitted him of the most serious charges but found him guilty on two Mann Act violations. In October, he was sentenced to four years and two months in prison and fined $500,000 for prostitution-related offences.
Directed by Alexandria Stapleton and executive produced by rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, The Reckoning uses exclusive footage, much of which was filmed by Combs himself, to weave a tale that documents his meteoric rise, exposes the “why” behind his success, and confronts the darker truths that have shadowed his legacy. Talking to victims, peers, and the people who knew him, The Reckoning is a dark look at an artist who abused his power.
Here’s a look at some of the most disturbing revelations uncovered in the docuseries.
1. The ‘Beginning of Puff Daddy’ started with a horrible tragedy
In December 1991, Sean Combs hosted a celebrity basketball game in Harlem with rapper Heavy D at the City College of New York. According to the series, as soon as the doors opened, a stampede of people rushed the entrance, causing chaos to ensue as the crowds surged forward, crushing anyone caught in their path. The night quickly turned tragic as the overwhelming pressure and lack of crowd control led to a deadly disaster.
“Sean over-promoted, over hyped, and that led to a crowd,” said Bad Boy Entertainment co-founder Kirk Burrowes.
In Episode 1, “Pain vs. Love,” the series shows the absolute disaster that unfolded, as bodies lined the floor of the gymnasium and people trampled each other. By the end of the night, nine people died in the pandemonium.
“It was the biggest news ever. That’s how he got super famous, was that game and those deaths. That’s the beginning of Puff Daddy,” said artist Erick Sermon.
“That’s really how I started to become famous, was through a tragedy,” said Combs himself in the series.
2. The assault on Joi Dickerson-Neal
In the episode “Pain vs. Love,” Joi Dickerson-Neal explained that in 1991, she went to a party where she met Combs. He asked her to appear in a music video, “Straight from the Soul” by Finesse & Synquis. “The whole premise was for me to jump out of the car and go with these girls and get away from the pimp guy.”
Netflix
In a bizarre moment of irony, the video was for a song about treating women with respect. According to Dickerson-Neal, she was assaulted shortly after her work on the video.
When asked if there was a time when Combs ever sexually assaulted her, Dickerson-Neal responded, “Yes. Someone called me up and told me, ‘You know he has you on video.’ And I was like, what? And that’s when he described it and explained it.” The attack was reportedly videotaped and shown at parties by Combs.
In the docuseries, Dickerson-Neal read from a letter her mother wrote to Combs’ parents, in which she stated that she could “scarcely believe any individual would compromise another person’s dignity in this manner.”
The series notes that in November 2023, Dickerson-Neal sued Combs under the New York State Adult Survivors Act. In the suit, she alleged she was drugged and assaulted by Combs, making her one of the first among more than 100 civil cases filed against him.
3. His reported ties to Tupac Shakur’s death
The docuseries digs deep into the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace). The tragedy was fallout from the era’s infamous East Coast vs. West Coast feud. Wallace was a protégé of Sean Combs, who played a major role in shaping his career. Tupac initially began as a peer and friend to the duo, often opening for B.I.G., before being viewed as a threat by Combs, according to the series.
Tupac Shakur
Shakur died on September 13, 1996, days after he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. B.I.G. was killed just a few months later, on March 9, 1997, in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles while riding with Combs.
“When I reflect on how this all came into play, it’s a trail. City College. Innocent lives got taken. Then it became the ability to get away with anything. Then you circle in the fact that he has legit money. Then you have the antagonist, Tupac Shakur. All those ingredients created the chain of events that started in New York and ended in Vegas,” said William Lesane, a cousin of Shakur.
“I think Sean, now in my mature mind, had a lot to do with the death of Tupac,” said Kirk Burrowes.
In September 2023, authorities arrested Duane “Keffe D” Davis and charged him with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting. In Episode 2, the docuseries discusses an alleged payment promised to Davis from Combs through associate Eric “Zip” Martin. According to Greg Kading, a former detective on the case, Davis claimed he was owed $500,000, but the money never came. Martin later died of cancer, leaving only Davis and Combs tied to the allegation.
4. Singer Aubrey O’Day’s horrifying reveal
Aubrey O’Day, who was once a member of the girl group Danity Kane on the Sean Combs-hosted and produced reality show Making the Band, revealed that a lawyer representing an alleged victim had reached out to her about a possible attack, one she had no memory of.
Netflix
In Episode 4, it was revealed that the alleged victim was a witness to the attack. “I had a lawyer reach out to me in regards to an affidavit they had received from a person that was allegedly a victim that wanted me to be aware of something she had seen. I was told it was an assault.” The witness claimed to have seen Combs and another man brutally assault O’Day, who at the time was “looking very inebriated.”
“I didn’t drink like that at all at this time. I don’t drink at all,” said O’Day. She read the detailed sexual assault to the camera.
“Does this mean I was raped? Is that what this means? I don’t even know if I was raped, and I don’t want to know,” said O’Day in the series. She admitted she didn’t come forward in fear of doing more harm than good for other potential victims.
O’Day also shared emails sent by Combs in which he solicited her for sexual favors and sent her illicit images, all with the pretense of being her mentor and producer. “This is your boss at your work sending you that email. What happens in real life to anyone else? Your boss gets fired. Six months later, I was fired.”
5. Capricorn Clark’s harrowing experience
Capricorn Clark was the former assistant — and later a top marketing/executive employee — to Sean Combs. And she was also a witness to his threatening behaviors towards Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi for his relationship with Combs’ partner at the time, Cassie Ventura.
Netflix
In Episode 4, she details how a hiking trip turned into a hunting trip when Combs stalked Mescudi for accompanying Ventura, planning to murder the artist. “He kidnapped me, and we drove for 15 minutes up to Cudi’s house. He went in with his gun. I was praying Cudi wasn’t home.” Clark called Ventura, pressured by Combs to tell her that she was being held against her will until she appeared. “He immediately begins kicking the s**t out of her.”
According to Clark, Combs was livid for not being told of Mescudi and Ventura’s relationship. “I was fired. I went from being in charge of the company to ‘You’ll never be a president of any company.’”
“The trauma that this case has caused me has been more traumatizing than the first go-round with it,” said Clark as she cried. “Because now I have to tell you what he did. Before, I could pretend it was fine. … I didn’t call him ‘the devil’ until Cassie finally came out and said something.”
Sean Combs: The Reckoning, now streaming, Netflix
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one is in immediate danger, call 911.
