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(NewsNation) — On Wednesday, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ long-suffering and loyal-to-a-fault publicist, Nathalie Moar, quit her post as Puffy’s mouthpiece, hours after I texted her saying her boss had been looking for her replacement for over six months.
Several crisis management PR teams have been contacted by Combs or people on his behalf since early this year/late last year after Combs settled former lover Cassie’s abuse, rape and trafficking charges for a rumored $30 million.
As one major crisis management head (who represents household names) told me: “I wasn’t going to touch (Combs) with a 10-foot pole. No way.”
Diddy was in trouble: PR
One of the issues the PR people had wasn’t that Combs was in trouble for grotesque charges (though that was a factor), but that he had a very well-known and well-earned reputation for being a horrible boss and abusing his employees.
“No one gets out of (his employ) without major psychotherapy bills and hopefully with your paycheck,” an insider told me.
Hours after I informed Moar — who has worked with Combs mostly on but sometimes off over two decades — that Combs was seeking alternative help, it seems the Australian PR woman had had enough and announced she no longer reps the rapper.
Moar didn’t return calls or texts.
Combs, who had already shrunk her fee several times over the past year, was likely to pay the big powerhouse PR teams, their crisis rate of over $30,000 a month.
But with his $1,500-an-hour lawyers claiming the sexual orgies known as “Freak Offs” were “consensual” and a “lifestyle choice,” Combs could use help as millions of people were outraged after those comments.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, Jeffrey Epstein and his rape island were a lifestyle choice,’” one insider told me. “It’s preposterous.”
Another quipped: “They should talk to Meek Mill.”
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In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, seated right, looks at his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, left, as he delivers his bail argument as Combs’ family in the gallery, background, raise their hands indicating to Judge Tarnofsky that they are in attendance, to bolster the defense attorney’s bail argument, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Manhattan Federal Court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP) -
FILE – Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of “The Four: Battle For Stardom” at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File) -
Sean “Diddy” Combs performs on November 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Sean Diddy Combs) -
Sean “Diddy” Combs attends Sean “Diddy” Combs Fulfills $1 Million Pledge To Howard University At Howard Homecoming – Yardfest at Howard University on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs) -
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 21: Sean “Diddy” Combs speaks during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference National Town Hall on September 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation) -
Mayor Eric Adams gives Sean “Diddy” Combs a key to NYC. (Caroline Rubinstein-Willis / Mayoral Photography Office) -
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 15: Sean “Diddy” Combs speaks to the crowd after being presented with the key to the city by New York Mayor Eric Adams in Times Square on September 15, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images) -
FILE – Music mogul and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, May 15, 2022. Two more women have come forward to accuse Combs of sexual abuse, one week after the music mogul settled a separate lawsuit with the singer Cassie that contained allegations of rape and physical abuse. Both of the new suits were filed Thursday, Nov. 24, 2023. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) -
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 20: Sean “Diddy” Combs attends Sean “Diddy” Combs Fulfills $1 Million Pledge To Howard University At Howard Homecoming – Yardfest at Howard University on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs) -
FILE – Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of “The Four: Battle For Stardom” at the CBS Radford Studio Center, May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. Combs has sold off his stake in Revolt, the media company the rapper and entrepreneur founded over a decade ago, the Los Angeles-based company said Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in a statement on its website. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File) -
FILE -Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs participates in “The Four” panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018. A former model accused Combs of sexually assaulting her at his New York City recording studio in 2003 in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 21, 2024, the latest in a series of allegations against the embattled hip-hop mogul. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) -
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 07: Cassie and Diddy “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination”, the 2018 Costume Institute Benefit at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images) -
LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 21: Cassie and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs attend the Los Angeles Premiere Of “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” at Writers Guild of America, West on June 21, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images) -
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 12: Diddy (L) poses in the press room with his Global Icon Award and his son King Combs (R) at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images) -
FILE – Sean “Diddy” Combs, right, and Christian Combs perform at the Billboard Music Awards, Sunday, May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File) -
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 07: Giggs and Diddy perform at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in a special one night only event at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on November 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Sean Diddy Combs)
Diddy bodyguard releases rant
Rodney Jones, Combs’ former bodyguard, released a rant on X talking about how he had been at a party with Combs and Mill, how the drinks were spiked and what happened after. In the video which contains a disturbing audio tape, Jones claims: “I don’t drink” and smoked his own weed so while everyone was “passed out” (or close to it) he made an audio recording through the door. A rep for Mill didn’t return emails.
Meanwhile, whispers about where Combs’ BFF Jay-Z has been the past few months are getting louder. Jay-Z and his wife, Beyonce, have been noticeably silent about their former friend and are laying low while their pal battles it out. Possibly, as I’ve mentioned in the past, they don’t want any questions about their own past or what they knew, when they knew it.
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