R&B/Hip-Hop

The first trailer for Investigation Discovery’s upcoming four-part docuseries, The Fall of Diddy, dropped on Thursday morning (Jan. 9), with a preview of its effort to unpack disgraced mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ rise to global stardom and precipitous plunge amid dozens of allegations of sexual abuse, rape and assault.
“Spanning Combs’ decades-long impact on music and popular culture, from his early days as a talented creative to his 2024 arrest, the docuseries uncovers the insidious and terrifying allegations of sexual assault, abusive behavior, violence, and other disturbing claims that lay beneath his success,” reads a release about the series from Maxine Productions (Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV) with original reporting from Rolling Stone Films.

The series will air on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28 (from 9 to 11 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery, later streaming on Max), promising to tell the story of Combs’ life from the perspective of those who, “saw his alleged violence and temper during his college days at Howard University and the onset of his career with Bad Boy Records, to those who knew him at the height of his influence and power in recent years.”

The 90-second trailer features a series of interviews from a number of music industry peers and artists attesting to the dark side of the Bad Boy Records founder, with many of the subjects revealing their previous long-held fears of speaking out about the once-powerful music impresario. “I’ve been quiet for 18 years,” says an unseen woman in voiceover at the top of the trailer. “I am absolutely nervous sharing what I’ve seen,” she adds, as a man says, “I can no long just remain silent.” Former VIBE editor-in-Chief Danyel Smith — speaking for the first time on camera about Diddy’s alleged violent behavior toward her — adds, “This is where I’m supposed to be.”

The first glimpse intercuts scenes from Diddy’s glory years in the 1990s with somber shots of the many Combs insiders and industry figures interviewed in the series, which will include former Danity Kane singer D. Woods, as well as Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who has accused Diddy of sexual harassment. In addition, the doc will include comments from journalist Cheyenne Roundtree, former bodyguard Roger Bonds, former personal chef Jourdan Cha-Taun and former driver Wardel Fenderson (who speaks for the first time and testified about Combs’ attempt to bribe him), in addition to Thalia Graves, a woman who has alleged that Combs violently raped her in 2001 and threatened her into silence.

“Through these interviews combined with a vast collection of archival footage, The Fall of Diddy paints a holistic picture of a mogul who is alleged to have wielded his extensive power and influence to obscure, for decades, a pattern of abuse and violence that left an unprecedented amount of pain and suffering in his wake,” reads the statement.

In a particularly harrowing soundbite, Jones recalls Diddy allegedly saying, “I’m Puff Daddy, I’ll eat your face off!”

The trailer includes the now-infamous 2016 footage of Diddy running down a hotel hallway in just a towel in pursuit of longtime ex-girlfriend singer Cassie before he appears to assault her in an incident caught on surveillance footage. Cassie sued Combs in November 2023 over allegations that he repeatedly physically abused her over a decade during their relationship, including claims he raped her and forced her to “engage in sex acts with male sex workers” as he masturbated; the lawsuit was settled a day after it was filed, with the terms kept secret.

Last July, in an emotional New York Times personal essay, Smith opened up for the first time about Diddy’s alleged harassment and intimidation of her in the late 1990s. It included a scene from a 2015 party — six months before the assault in the hotel video — where Cassie shakily asked her “How are you doing it?” Smith, who said she’d also been a victim of sexual assault, said she replied, “doing what?,” to which Cassie added, “like, how are you managing?”

“We each wanted to say something. It seemed that neither of us could find the words,” Smith wrote.

Combs, 55, is currently in federal custody after being denied bail three times as he awaits trial on counts of sex trafficking and racketeering in a federal case that is slated to begin on May 5; he has pleaded not guilty to the charges that could land him a life sentence if he’s convicted. He is also facing more than two dozen lawsuits from people accusing him of drugging, raping, assaulting and intimidating victims, with attorneys for some of the victims saying they are representing at least 120 other alleged victims; Combs had denied all the allegations.

“We did not realize the extent of the darkness,” says one of the interview subjects in the trailer. Another Diddy doc, the 90-minute Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy, will debut on Peacock on Jan. 14.

Watch The Fall of Diddy trailer below.