To a teenage Usher, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lifestyle was “pretty wild.”
In a 2016 interview with Howard Stern, the R&B star described what it was like to live with the “Bad Boy for Life” rapper. The interview has recently resurfaced online due to the raids on Combs’ Los Angeles and Miami homes, in the wake of allegations Combs engaged in abuse and 𝓈ℯ𝓍 trafficking.
Usher explained to Stern that when he was 14, famed record executive L.A. Reid sent him to New York City to live with Diddy, then going by Puff Daddy, in the 1990s — an experience both Usher and Stern referred to as “Puffy Flavor Camp.”
“I went there to see the lifestyle — and I saw it,” Usher said, who appeared to be carefully choosing his words.
“But I don’t know if I could indulge and understand what I was even looking at. It was pretty wild,” he added.
When Stern asked if the music producer’s home was “filled with chicks” and “nonstop” orgies, Usher shot that description down, saying, “Nah, not really.”
“But hey — it was curious,” the singer offered.
“There were very curious things taking place, and I didn’t necessarily understand it,” Usher said.
The “U Got it Bad” crooner also recalled that famous artists like Biggie Smalls, Lil’ Kim, Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige used to frequent Combs’ home at the time, but implied they were unaware of any nefarious behavior. “They knew nothing about this shit,” Usher said.
Usher and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs at the 2002 American Music Awards after party.KMAZUR VIA GETTY IMAGES
Although Usher didn’t go into any specifics about what he witnessed while living with Combs, he did imply that it wasn’t a great environment for a young teen when Stern asked Usher if he’d have let his own son live with Combs.
“Hell no,” the pop star said.
On Monday, Combs’ properties in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security Investigations as “part of an ongoing investigation,” a rep for the agency said to HuffPost in a statement. The rap mogul has been accused of violence and 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual abuse by at least four people since late 2023.
The first lawsuit was filed in November by Combs’ former girlfriend, singer-songwriter Cassie Ventura.
She accused Combs of forcing her to partake in 𝓈ℯ𝓍 acts with male 𝓈ℯ𝓍 workers as he watched, and coerced into the acts with drugs, physical abuse and 𝓈ℯ𝓍 trafficking. Combs, who signed Ventura to his label in 2005 and started dating her when she was 19, settled the suit in a day.
Since then two other women have come forward with allegations of rape as the legal window enacted by the Adult Survivors Act in New York is set to expire. Earlier this month, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones accused Combs of a “massive cover-up” of their involvement with a 2022 shooting at a recording studio and accused him of running a racketeering enterprise.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
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