New lawsuits cast Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s White Parties in a darker light

On Labor Day weekend in 1998, Sean “Diddy” Combs hosted a casual barbecue for about 200 guests at his new beachfront estate in East Hampton, N.Y. The dress code was all white, and the guest list was exclusive - details that would come to define the hip-hop impresario’s famous White Parties, which grew into extravagant soirees and earned him the reputation of a “modern-day Gatsby.”

For one attendee, who was 16 at the time, scoring an invite to the party that year felt like it could lead to his big break in the music business - an “opportunity to rub shoulders with the who’s who of the industry.” Instead, according to a new lawsuit, he alleges he was sexually abused by Combs during the event.

The complaint, which was filed anonymously on Monday to the Southern District of New York, depicts a darker underside to the lavish, star-studded parties the rapper hosted for more than a decade - and as the disgraced and detained mogul faces federal charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, amid a deluge of sexual abuse lawsuits. Combs has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Until recently, most of the accusations against Combs had focused on the alleged sex parties he called “freak-offs,” which have been at the center of a federal indictment by a grand jury in New York. Now his troubles have prompted a closer examination of the White Parties, which one accuser says had a sinister side from the very beginning.

“Countless celebrities” were spotted at the inaugural party in 1998, according to the plaintiff, who is identified only as John Doe in the lawsuit. As he moved through the crowd on his way to the bathroom, he “unexpectedly bumped into Combs,” who took an interest in Doe’s aspirations of becoming a star, according to the suit.

On a grassy field against the backdrop of food and party vendors, Combs posed with Doe for a photo. They continued talking as they walked toward the event’s portable restrooms. According to the plaintiff, Combs said Doe had “the look” to make it in showbiz despite Doe’s concerns that his voice was not strong enough.

“The only thing that mattered was having the right look for the industry” Combs allegedly said, before instructing Doe to drop his pants so that the producer could inspect him. Combs allegedly called it “a rite of passage.”

Afterward, the rapper said “his people would be in touch” with Doe, and then returned to his party as if nothing had happened, according to the complaint.

And nothing did happen, at least to Combs’s public image. The mogul’s annual White Parties would become one of the hottest events of the year, growing into a 1,000-plus guest list that drew names as wide-ranging as Donna Karan, Anna Wintour, Jay-Z, Howard Stern, Sarah Jessica Parker, Moby, Al Sharpton, Salman Rushdie, Donald Trump and Aretha Franklin.

The parties were created to introduce hip-hop to the upper echelons of society and the elite circles of Hollywood, Combs reportedly told Oprah Winfrey in a 2006 interview.

“I wanted to strip away everyone’s image and put us all in the same color, and on the same level,” he said. “I had the craziest mix. Some of my boys from Harlem; Leonardo DiCaprio, after he’d just finished ‘Titanic.’ I had socialites there and relatives from down South. There were 200 people sitting out here, just having a down-home cookout.”

Doyenne of domesticity Martha Stewart called the all-white dress code a “stunning sight.” Heiress Paris Hilton described the party as “iconic.”

The White Parties were often heavily sponsored events - with brands such as Ciroc and Vitamin Energy printed on backdrops as celebrities walked the red carpet. At its most dramatic height in 2004, Combs arrived via helicopter carrying an original copy of the Declaration of Independence into the bash, which doubled as a kickoff event for his get-out-the-vote organization Citizen Change.

Adria English, a former adult entertainer hired to work at that star-studded Fourth of July party, was given a skimpy white outfit and instructed to “be sexually flirtatious with guests,” according to a lawsuit she filed against Combs in July, in which she also claims she was given ecstasy-laced liquor and narcotics.

She continued to work at the White Parties until 2009 and alleges that Combs eventually sexually trafficked her to guests.

One year, English was instructed to wear a black dress to signal her availability for sexual encounters, she alleges. She also claimed that the rooms in his East Hampton and Miami homes were filled with hidden cameras.

Another man who claims to have been assaulted at a White Party was working a last-minute security job for the event, according to court documents filed anonymously this week.

He alleges that in 2006, he was given a drink laced with narcotics. He felt “extremely ill” after drinking the beverage, after which Combs allegedly pushed him into an open van, overpowered him and raped him, the filing states.

In an email to The Washington Post, a spokesperson for Combs denied allegations of sexual misconduct at the parties. “It’s disappointing to see the media and social commentators twist these cultural moments into something they were not,” the statement read. “Shaming celebrities who attended, taking video clips and photos out of context, and trying to link these events to false allegations is simply untrue.”

Those who’ve accused Combs of sexual abuse at the parties were either low-level employees or starstruck strivers. For A-list guests, it was an entirely different affair and a way to hobnob with powerful creatives.

R. Couri Hay, a publicist and social commentator, remembers the early days of the White Parties, when there were about 300 to 400 people spread along the twisty roads leading to Combs’s Hamptons home.

Hay, who was a society columnist for Hamptons magazine at the time, said the parties were more diverse and more welcoming than similar high-society gatherings.

“When he [and J-Lo] came out of the balcony of his bedroom … he was swinging Cristal from the bottle, and they had their arms wrapped around each other,” Hay told The Washington Post in April of Combs’s party. “It was like rap royalty, waving from the balconies like Prince William and Kate Middleton after the wedding.”

Throughout the 1990s and the 2000s, Hay said, Combs was one of the first rappers to “cross over” into the realm of throwing elite bashes. As the festivities got bigger and more commercialized, White Parties became an opportunity for the mogul to self-promote and build his business empire.

Instead of Cristal, he waved around Ciroc, Hay said, and although Combs never quite reached the music icon status of his peers such as Jay-Z or the Notorious B.I.G., his brands that he promoted - such as Sean John - were where he found his fortune.

In 2009, he co-hosted a White Party with actor Ashton Kutcher in Beverly Hills to raise awareness for Malaria No More, a nonprofit working to eradicate malaria.

That year drew more of a quintessential party crowd - Chris Brown, Russell Brand and Tara Reid were among the attendees - and was the last known official White Party that Combs hosted. He often teased about potentially reviving the soiree. But its influence has endured.

Last year marked the 25th anniversary of his inaugural party in the Hamptons, prompting reflections from multiple outlets before Combs’s legal troubles began.

Some cultural critics suggested that the parties ushered a major shift in hip-hop and American culture, helping to dispel a long-held criticism that the media cast rap as dangerous.

“Hip-hop was already popular,” the Atlantic wrote last year. “The message the party sent was that hip-hop, and the people who made it, were also ‘safe.’”

That notion, as it relates to Combs, has quickly unraveled as internet sleuths have uncovered photos and video from the events that they say allude to misconduct all along. Among them: Khloe Kardashian’s remarks that “half the people there were butt-naked” and Kutcher saying “I’ve got a lot I can’t tell,” when asked about the parties.

In a resurfaced clip from his 2002 interview with Conan O’Brien, Combs laid out his party tips: “A lot of ladies drink water at parties … so if you don’t have what they need, they’re going to leave. Got to keep them there. You need locks on the doors … It’s a little kinky.”

In total, 19 sexual assault lawsuits have been filed against Combs, with attorneys announcing that more than 100 new complaints could be submitted against the mogul in the coming weeks.

The rapper, who is currently being held without bail at a Brooklyn jail, has repeatedly denied the claims made in earlier lawsuits and pleaded not guilty to the federal charges against him.

A Manhattan judge set a trial date for his case for May 5.