P Diddy accused of threatening journalist in 1997, wanted her ‘dead in the trunk of a car’

The Vibe editor in chief made the claims in a New York Times article


Former Vibe journalist and editor-in-chief Danyel Smith has accused P Diddy of threatening her life due to a dispute over a 1997 magazine cover in a New York Times article.

In her extensive piece, she opened up about her alleged experience working with P Diddy, also known as Sean Combs, and described their relationship as strictly “professional.” However, she claimed what followed was “insidious.”

“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,” she wrote.

Her side of events is that in 1997, P Diddy was going to be featured on the December cover of Vibe magazine. He had allegedly demanded to see dual covers depicting him as an angel and a devil. She then claimed that when she refused, P Diddy ended up threatening the journalist over the phone by telling her he would see her “dead in the trunk of a car” if she did not comply with his request. When she asked if he would “take it back,” he swore and told her he knew her exact location.

Danyel claimed that she did not show him the covers, but that the servers containing the magazine’s final version were stolen from the office before it was scheduled to be printed. An art director at the company had a copy of the issue on CD, so the December magazine issue came out as planned anyway. There is no information on who took the final cover.

Danyel also wrote about an incident where she and some other female friends were having cocktails with P Diddy’s late wife, Kim Porter. Apparently, the rapper burst in and demanded she return home immediately, and dumped out the contents of her purse on the table.

“He snatched up her bank cards to the beat of: You ain’t got. No business. In here. You need. To be. At home. With. Those. Kids. Combs yelled something like, ‘Get home as best you can.’ From the sidewalk, I saw Porter being hustled into the limo in which we arrived. One of the friends, more tired than terrified, shot me a look: You good? And they were gone,” Smith claimed.

She also wrote about an incident at an Epic Records party when Cassie Ventura, P Diddy’s ex girlfriend, was “uncharacteristically alone,” and seemed to be on the verge of opening up to Danyel about something. “We each wanted to say something. It seemed that neither of us could find the words,” Smith said. Cassie refused to comment for Danyel’s article.

Danyel finished the article with a very bold statement: “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.”

P Diddy refused to comment to the New York Times.

P Diddy is currently being held at a New York prison where he is awaiting trial, after his attempts at bail were all denied. He has denied all allegations against him. Currently, no date has been set for his trial.

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