P.Diddy's Connection to Deadly NYC Tragedy: "It Almost Made Him in a Real Weird Way"
Before he skyrocketed to fame, Sean "Diddy" Combs was a party promoter, including for a celebrity basketball game at City College in New York City that turned deadly.
As music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs faces shocking criminal allegations including sex trafficking, members of his inner circle are sharing more about his early life in the new Peacock documentary streaming now, Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. In the explosive special, one of his childhood friends claimed there’s a moment in particular that changed the course of Combs’ life.
“This thing somehow or another made him the most famous guy around,” Tim Patterson, childhood friend of Sean Combs, said in the documentary. “Puffy became more known. It almost ‘made’ him in a real weird way.”
Dec. 28, 2024 marked 33 years since nine people died during a stampede at a celebrity basketball game at the City College of New York in Harlem in New York City — Combs’ hometown. Keep reading to see how he was connected the tragedy, and how some believe it marked his career.
How was Sean "Diddy" Combs connected to the City College tragedy?
In the early 1990s, Sean Combs became an intern for Uptown Records as he launched his career as a megastar music producer and singer. He began promoting parties as well as a way to earn more money, according to Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. At this point in his career, Combs was still relatively unknown to most.
“Puff and Heavy D decided to throw a celebrity charity basketball game," Sonny Williams, brother of a 1991 City College victim, said on Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. “When you got Mike Tyson, LL Cool J, Heavy D himself a big celebrity — the urban community wanted to see that.”
The event was heavily promoted on local media by Combs, according to Williams.
“If you didn’t know about that event, something was wrong with you, because it was all over the place,” Jason Swain, brother of a 1991 City College victim, said on Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.
Combs invited people to the game and handed out tickets personally, including to Sonya Williams, according to her brother, Sonny.
“At 22, Sean was a genius at marketing,” Patterson said.
According to Williams, the problems began with the marketing.
“They promoted it like it was in a 10,000 seat arena … City College holds 2,700,” he said.
A large crowd gathered for the game.
“Not only was it filled inside, there was probably just as many people outside that couldn’t get inside,” Patterson said.
According to Williams and Swain, their brothers were among those killed when the crowds became too much, and crews closed the doors to the gymnasium.
“I heard, ‘They locked me in. She locked the door,’” said Gene Deal, Combs’ bodyguard at the time, on Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.
Witnesses claimed in the documentary that the crowds were crushed against the locked doors, and then the glass shattered, causing a stampede of people running.
“You got people piling up on one another, another, another, and people are screaming, ‘Just let me in, let me in!’” Patterson said.
Witnesses said they heard people dying in the crowd.
“And there were people who, my friend said they heard smothered, like they could hear him being completely covered by the crowd,” Swain said.
Lee Davis, a childhood friend of Sean Combs, said he saw Combs during the stampede.
“What I do see is him, Puffy, running around, trying to save people,” Davis said on Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. “I saw him trying to give mouth to mouth resuscitation to people.”
But Combs’ bodyguard claimed that’s not true in the documentary.
“I didn’t see Diddy at all,” Deal said. “I never saw Sean Combs give anyone CPR. If anybody tells you that, they’re telling a flat-out lie.”
Nine people were killed at the City College game, including Dirk Swain and Sonya Williams, and 27 more were injured.
How did Sean "Diddy" Combs handle the lawsuits against him for the City College tragedy?
Families of the victims looked for someone to blame after the tragedy at City College, and Sean Combs was one of them.
“The news is, ‘he’ oversold the event. Him and Heavy D. And you know why? Because their names were on it,” Davis said.
Although Combs was never criminally charged, he did face lawsuits for his part in the tragedy. The family of Sonya Williams was among those who went to court.
“The details started coming out,” Williams said. “That [Sean Combs] promoted this event. You didn’t hire enough security. You oversold the tickets. Someone took the money, ran down the stairs, and shut the door.”
Williams said his family was in litigation over the tragedy for six years, and in that time, Combs’ popularity and fame skyrocketed.
“So now, his music is doing well. ‘Sean John’ was getting ready to come out. So, he’s doing very well,” Williams said.
Williams said his sister, Sonya, was personal friends with Combs, and he met with Combs alone in his office after the tragedy.
“He seemed very nervous. He seemed so nervous that his lips turned white,” Williams said. “And he says, ‘Sonny, I want to offer you $50,000.’ So, I remember looking around the office, and I see all these plaques now on the wall. Platinum plaques. Gold plaques. I said, ‘Brother, you got all of this going on, and you’re offering me $50,000?’ He says, ‘Sonny, listen man, that’s real generous. That’s a generous donation.’ And I lost it.”
Williams said he reminded Combs that he personally gave his sister a ticket to the event.
“That was a slap in my face,” Williams said in the documentary. “I don’t want to talk money. I want you to help me do something in their memory. I said, ‘But was Sonya your friend?’ He wouldn’t answer me.”
Williams said he accepted the money from Combs. While no criminal charges were filed, a state judge ruled the college was 50 percent responsible for the deaths and injuries, and Sean Combs and Heavy D were responsible for the other 50 percent. Combs settled the lawsuit privately.
“All families were given a settlement amount. We got $40,000 from Sean Combs directly,” Swain said in the documentary. “He never owned up to it. Never just said, ‘I apologize.’ There’s a clip of him saying that it wasn’t overbooked. That’s a blatant lie.”
Swain claimed that the City College tragedy proved to be a turning point in Combs’ life and career.
“His image is important for him,” he said in the documentary. “The lies go back to City College. Had someone found him accountable, it may have just slowed down the process of all the other things that happened to other people.”
Watch Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy streaming now on Peacock.
