Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
Over three decades as a hip-hop mogul, Sean “Diddy” Combs surrounded himself with a large circle of A-listers, including everyone from Jennifer Lopez to Jay-Z. Now that Combs is facing criminal charges and accusations of drugging and abusing women during so-called “Freak Offs,” his vast network of famous friends is under the spotlight. As Combs — who denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty — is being held without bail in a Brooklyn jail, some of the celebrities who posed in photos and drank Champagne by his side are trying to distance themselves from his downfall.
In the late ’90s through the aughts, Combs’s celebrity cabal came together at his annual White Party, the notorious ragers at his Hamptons home that reportedly ended with drugs and lots of nudity. While some attendees have joked about the illicit shenanigans throughout the years — when asked about Diddy’s parties in 2019, Ashton Kutcher said, “I’ve got a lot I can’t tell” — it seems as though they would now prefer not to be associated with the debaucherous soirées.
When Diddy resurrected his White Party in 2017, he told Vogue that Leonardo DiCaprio was his top invite. In the wake of Diddy’s arrest, photos of the two partying in the late ’90s, sitting together at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, and of DiCaprio at the rapper’s 50th-birthday party in 2019 have been circulating online.
An anonymous source close to the actor told the Daily Mail that DiCaprio “has absolutely nothing to do with” Combs’s federal case. “He attended a few of his parties back in the early 2000s — but literally everyone did,” the person said, clarifying that these parties were not the Freak Offs described in legal complaints. “He has nothing to do with any of that world, so for anyone to assume that he will get roped into this based on a few grainy photos that are more than 20 years old is ridiculous.”
Combs’s connection to Kutcher is more firmly established. Kutcher has said the two became “fast friends” after meeting in 2002, and in 2009 they co-hosted the White Party. They have sat beside each other at NBA games, presented awards together, and talked about their friendship on late-night TV. But a source recently told People, “Ashton has no involvement in any of this. He doesn’t belong in this conversation about Diddy. Ashton has only seen Diddy in a handful of social and business events, all of which have been documented by the media.”
Following Combs’s indictment, a resurfaced video of him spending “48 hours” with a 15-year-old Justin Bieber has also prompted questions. “Where we hanging out and what we doing, we can’t really disclose, but it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream,” Diddy says in the 2009 clip, which remains up on Bieber’s YouTube account. The two artists collaborated on a song in 2023, and a source told the Daily Mail that Bieber now regrets being part of Combs’s new album. In fact, the pop star is apparently “so disturbed by the Diddy news and is unwilling to process it or discuss it, so he has shut off.” Another insider told People that Bieber doesn’t want to think about the allegations and is instead trying to “focus on being a great dad and husband.”
Meanwhile, other celebs appear to be distancing themselves from Combs in more subtle ways. Vibe magazine compiled a list of famous people in Diddy’s orbit who have now unfollowed him on Instagram, such as LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, and Kim Kardashian. Last year, Janet Jackson and Naomi Campbell were photographed celebrating Combs’s birthday. But according to “Page Six,” both stars removed the images from Instagram after Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura filed a lawsuit against him alleging rape and abuse. As the case progresses, we’ll likely see even more celebrities scramble to distance themselves from the mogul.
