Danyel Smith Claims Diddy Threatened Her Life

In a recent first-person piece for the New York Times, former editor-in-chief of Vibe Danyel Smith said that Sean “Diddy” Combs had threatened her life over a 1997 cover dispute.

Smith stated that she chose Combs to be the cover star for Vibe magazine’s December/January double issue in 1997 in a personal essay that was published in The New York Times Magazine on Friday.

Hollywood Reporter claims that Combs’ appearance in white angel wings on the poster for the 1978 Warren Beatty movie Heaven Can Wait served as the inspiration for the shoot’s images. There would be two separate runs of the cover, “one with heavenly signifiers and another with hellish ones,” each with a different motif.

Following the photo shoot, she recalled Combs requesting to see the covers. Given this was against the policy for the magazine, Smith said she denied his request. After she told him no, she heard that Combs “planned to come to our office and force us to show him what we’d chosen and to make us choose something else if he didn’t like what he saw.”

Danyel Smith admitted that she “had to have him on the cover” even though she was aware that Combs had been convicted guilty of criminal mischief in 1996 for threatening a New York Post photographer with a gun.

Smith claimed that Vibe staff members “put together a plan” to protect her in the event that Combs showed up at the office out of fear for what he would do.

According to Smith, Combs once questioned the receptionist, “Where’s Danyel?” as he and two security officers entered the office.

At that point, the staff members—who had previously been informed by the receptionist of Combs’ arrival—”shuttled” Smith between offices, giving her just enough time to barely escape in a taxi while carrying the paper proofs of the covers.

She claimed that Combs called the office the following day, claiming that he had threatened someone.

“He wanted to see the covers. I was still on message: It’s not what we do,” recalled Smith. “It was then that Combs told me, as I’ve retold hundreds of times over the years, that he would see me ‘dead in the trunk of a car.’ Not missing a beat, I told him he needed to take that threat back.”

Smith said that Combs told her, “I know where you are right now,” after she threatened to call her attorney if he didn’t “take back” his purported threat.

Accurately, Lexington. Smith claimed that two hours later, Combs faxed over an apology when she called her personal attorney and was threatened with legal action.

Nevertheless, the magazine’s servers were taken from the workplace not long after the incident. Since the whole incident was preserved on one of the servers, there have been rumours that members of Combs’ label Bad Boy Entertainment were complicit in the heist.

The story in the New York Times Magazine coincides with Diddy’s growing legal problems, including a sex trafficking investigation and sexual assault claims.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli