The Diddy Discourse Has Lost the Plot

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( the industry [The Diddy Discourse Has Lost the Plot]( As conspiracy theories continue to spread, we have to stop pretending the story here is dark forces corrupting a few promising men each generation. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty, Shutterstock Nearly a year into the torrent of hellish accusations of sexual assault, physical violence, and drugging involving multimedia mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, a circus of suspicion swirls around everything he ever touched as people relitigate known controversies and tidbits we never much thought about before. In this new light, a 15-year-old video of 15-year-old Justin Bieber being offered a car and grills during a two-day hang with Diddy and a second clip of the mogul giving the kid grief for not hanging out with him more have set off people’s groomer sensors. There have been far-fetched conspiracy theories about old songs — like the suggestion that Bieber is singing the word “oil” in the chorus of My World 2.0’s “Baby,” in reference to the thousand bottles of baby oil Diddy apparently kept in his Miami mansion. The sleuthing follows the chain of command further to Usher, who signed Bieber in a joint venture with Scooter Braun to Raymond Braun Media Group, a label that has only ever touted the one artist. When he was 14, Usher was sent to [live with Diddy](, on LaFace Records exec L.A. Reid’s urging and with his mother’s permission, in a last-ditch effort to eke out a style for the singer, whose voice was changing; the raunchy Jodeci-adjacent vibe of his self-titled debut album and the orgies he claimed to have witnessed at Combs’s house in a [2004 Rolling Stone profile]( are inviting questions about whether those parties — and the Bieber meetup — were anything like the horrors alleged in the indictment files. [read more]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( to save over 40% on unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • The Real Housewives of Potomac: [Drive Me Crazy]( • The Penguin: [This Is Gotham]( • The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: [Bonne Chance]( • The Franchise: [The Toyman Cometh]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [Alan Hollinghurst Tries to Atone The writer has tended to fetishize marginal POC characters in his novels. In Our Evenings, he puts a biracial man at the center for the first time.]( By Sam Worley [Diddy’s Mom Decries Her Son’s ‘Public Lynching’ Janice Smalls Combs speaks out for the first time.]( By Jason P. Frank [Coachella Couldn’t Pull Kendrick Lamar or Rihanna But do you wanna see Fred again.. and a TBD country-pop star?]( By Justin Curto [Who Knew Céline Dion Felt This Way About Football? Specifically those “old flames” the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers.]( By Justin Curto [How The Substance Created the Ultimate Body of Horrors And turned Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley into one of the year’s best movie monsters.]( By Matthew Jacobs [Fran Drescher to Play Timothée Chalamet’s Mom in Marty Supreme Everything we know about the first solo effort by Josh Safdie.]( By Bethy Squires [Watch Stray Kids Honor ’N Sync at the American Music Awards 50th Anniversary From “Bye Bye Bye” into “Chk Chk Boom.” Basically a Deadpool & Wolverine medley.]( By Bethy Squires [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Vulture Games [Today’s Crossword]( 23-Down, Four Letters: Part of a drag queen’s read Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection, JC Olivera/WireImage, Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP via Getty Images [Today’s Cinematrix]( It’s Rom-Com Week: Check back every weekday through October 11 to fall in love with a new game. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Phillip Faraone, Donna Ward), Robin L Marshall/WireImage A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race, for subscribers only. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved