Did Diddy slap Janice Combs? Mother finally reacts as Netflix docuseries reopens his rivalry with 50 Cent

Diddy is back in the headlines after a docuseries claim that he slapped his mother, Janice Combs, following the 1991 City College stampede that killed nine people. As per the People report dated December 7, 2025, the allegation appears in Netflix’s four-part Sean Combs: The Reckoning and is made on camera by former Bad Boy executive Kirk Burrowes.

The film also notes Diddy did not comment on camera. Janice Combs has now issued a written denial, calling the story “inaccurate and patently false” and requesting a public retraction, as per a People report dated December 7, 2025. In the public record, the 1991 tragedy and the civil litigation that followed are well-documented. What those records do not show is any official finding that Diddy assaulted Janice.

What the Netflix doc alleges about Diddy and why it’s surfacing now?

The allegation that powers the current headlines comes from Kirk Burrowes in Netflix’s Sean Combs: The Reckoning. As per the People report dated December 7, 2025, Burrowes claims he witnessed a tense conversation after the December 28, 1991, crowd crush and says,

"He just left school, and now this extreme tragedy has occurred. She's like, 'Did he make the right decision?' And I saw him put his hands on her. Call her a bit*h and slapped her.'

The episode also carries a title card noting Diddy did not respond to producers’ requests for comment. The docuseries revisits the City College disaster for context. As per an ABC News report dated May 12, 2025, Diddy was a co-promoter of the charity basketball event that was oversold, leading to a fatal stampede that left nine dead and twenty-nine injured.

No criminal charges were filed. Civil cases continued for years and reached out-of-court settlements. A judge in one case found Diddy, Heavy D, and City College shared responsibility, according to reporting referenced by ABC.

Timing matters. Netflix released Sean Combs: The Reckoning in early December 2025, after months of intense legal scrutiny of Diddy and amid ongoing civil suits. Netflix’s own page confirms the series is now streaming.

As per the People report dated December 7, 2025, Diddy’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, attacked the project as a “shameful hit piece” and accused Netflix of using unauthorised footage, while declining to address the slap claim line by line. The producer roster includes Curtis Jackson, known as 50 Cent, whose history with Diddy is a running subtext in how audiences read the series.

Janice Combs’ response: denial, wording, and what she wants retracted

Janice Combs has directly denied the allegation. As per the People report dated December 7, 2025, in a statement first sent to Deadline, she stated,

“The allegations stated by Mr. Kirk Burrows [sic] that my son slapped me while we were conversing after the tragic City College events on December 28, 1991, are inaccurate and patently false.”

She added context, saying,

“That was a very sad day for all of us … For him to use this tragedy and incorporate fake narratives to further his prior failed and current attempt to gain what was never his — Bad Boy Records — is wrong, outrageous and past offensive.”

Janice also requested that “these distortions, falsehoods and misleading statements be publicly retracted.” People also published Diddy’s spokesperson’s on-the-record response to the series as a whole. As per the People report dated, Juda Engelmayer remarked,

“We’re not going to comment on individual claims being repeated in the documentary. Many of the people featured have longstanding personal grievances, financial motives, or credibility issues that have been documented for years.”

He further stated the project was,

“built around a one-sided narrative led by a publicly admitted adversary,”

an apparent reference to producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Janice Combs is Diddy’s mother and a former model and a teacher’s assistant who raised him after the death of his father, Melvin. The profile also documents her public support for her son across the years, alongside the recent denial connected to the Netflix docuseries.

Stay tuned for more updates.