Columbus Short accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of grooming him years ago while guest-appearing on the Boss Talk 101 podcast on Feb. 28.
A little over 4 minutes into the podcast, Short explained that his first encounter with Diddy was through a phone call sometime around 2007. The 41-year-old actor’s movie Stomp the Yard thrived at the box office and sat at No. 1 for two weeks, with Night at the Museum at No. 2 and Dreamgirls taking No. 3.
Short said he received numerous calls about movie offers due to the film’s success but was surprised when Diddy called him, praising him for his role in Stomp the Yard and inviting the young actor to get whatever he wanted at the Sean John store.
Weeks passed, and the Mr. Right star was invited to a Diddy party at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. At this point, the two were highly acquainted, so Diddy asked him for acting coach recommendations for a role in the 2007 film A Raisin in the Sun.
Short commented how he believed it was the 54-year-old mogul grooming him.
He recalled Diddy calling him hours after the BET Awards, which he didn’t attend due to not being nominated.
“I’m just sitting my Black behind at the crib,” he said. “So, about two-something in the morning—2:15, 2:30 in the morning—[the] phone ring. Unknown number. I don’t answer unknown numbers, but my wife looking at me like, ‘Yeah, pick that up.’ So, I put it on speaker.”
“Picked it up,” he continued. “I say, ‘Who’s this?’ ‘It’s Sean.’ I’m like, ‘Sean?’ ‘It’s Puff.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, what’s good?’…talking low. I was like, ‘Hey, what’s good? What’s cracking?’”
Diddy allegedly told Short he noticed he didn’t see him at the BET Awards and asked him what the actor was up to—Short told the music mogul that he was at his house.
“He said, ‘Oh, yeah, we over here. I’m over here at the Beverly Hills Hotel.’ I said, ‘Oh, for real…who over there.’ (Pause) ‘Just me,’” Short recalled, adding his wife silently motioned that she knew something was up.
“But now I got smoke in my house. My wife looking at me like, ‘What’s up?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know this man. [He] just called me,” he stated.
A co-host asked if the actor had ever led Diddy on or given him a sign, but Short denied it. He also said he didn’t show up at the rapper’s hotel room.
While Short doesn’t know if the claims about Diddy and his explorative sextracurricular activities were valid, he confirmed that he had witnessed some things in the industry not too far from the claims.
Short recalled attending a meeting he was invited to that had around 14 to 15 people without saying names. They handed the actor one shot of tequila, and he felt woozy, informing him that something was wrong. The thespian said he calmly went to the bathroom, threw up whatever he was given and left with his manager.
Do you think Diddy was grooming Short?
