Bad Boy co-founder Kirk Burrowes makes the shocking claim in the 4-part docuseries
When Netflix’s documentary, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, premiered on Dec. 2, audiences expected revelations. What they got was a seismic, four-part exposé that peels back decades of controversies surrounding one of hip-hop’s most influential and embattled figures.
Executive-produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and directed by Alexandria Stapleton, the series blends eyewitness accounts, archival footage and previously unheard testimony to chart the rise, fall, and ongoing fallout of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ empire.
Documentary cites sources inside the Bad Boy machine
Among the documentary’s most charged moments is an interview with Bad Boy Records co-founder Kirk Burrowes, who recounts an incident he claims occurred in the aftermath of the 1991 City College tragedy that left nine people dead. According to Burrowes, Combs became physical with his mother, Janice.
“I saw him put his hands on her, call her a b—h and slap her,” Burrowes alleges in the docuseries, according to AllHipHop.com. The documentary offers no independent verification of the claim; representatives for Combs have previously denied similar allegations, and maintain that the series relies on “stolen” materials and is designed as a “shameful hit piece.”
Aubrey O’Day breaks her silence, again
The documentary also revisits the long-rumored tensions between Combs and former Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day. In one of the series’ most talked-about scenes, O’Day reads from a March 23, 2008, email she says came from Combs while she was filming “Making the Band.” The message, sexually explicit and domineering in tone, allegedly concluded with Combs’ familiar signature: “God bless. Diddy. God is the Greatest.”
O’Day claims Diddy wrote to her the following.
“I don’t want to just f–k you, I want to turn you out,” O’Day recited from the message. “I can see you being with some motherf—–s that you tell what to do. I make my woman do what I tell her to do, and she loves it. I just want and like to do things different. I’ma finish watching this p—- and finish masturbating. I’ll think of you. If you change your mind and get ready to do what I say, hit me.”
O’Day claims she repeatedly rejected Combs’ advances — and believes doing so cost her a place in the group.
“I absolutely felt that I was fired for not participating sexually,” she says.
She also discloses that, within the past two years, she learned of an affidavit from a woman who claimed to have witnessed an incapacitated O’Day being sexually assaulted in 2005 by Combs and another man. O’Day says she has no memory of such an incident.
“I don’t even know if I was raped,” she admits quietly. “And I don’t want to know.”
Inside the final days before the arrest
Stapleton’s camera captures never-before-seen footage from the six days leading up to Combs’ September arrest on federal charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The scenes are startling: Combs surrounded by lawyers, strategizing with family members, working to steer the public narrative even as the walls close in.
Two jurors from Combs’ recent criminal trial also appear in the series, offering rare insight into the deliberations that led to his acquittal on sex trafficking charges involving Cassie “Cassie” Ventura. Though they acknowledge evidence of domestic violence, both explain that prosecutors failed to meet the burden of proof on trafficking. Combs was ultimately convicted of transportation for prostitution charges and sentenced to 50 months in federal prison.
A legacy under siege
Since its release, The Reckoning has ignited fierce debate about accountability in the music industry and the thin line between power and abuse. Combs’ representatives continue to condemn the series, while Netflix has not issued public comment on the documentary or its allegations.