As the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs has been unfolding over the past six weeks in a lower Manhattan federal courtroom, testimony from his former staff members and girlfriends has revealed a great deal about the hip-hop icon and business mogul, whose alleged dark life behind closed doors was not apparent amid the razzle-dazzle of his larger-than-life public persona. The ambitious and flashy pop culture fixture was a kingmaker in the rap game and pop world, and later expanded his career into fashion, television and spirits over the past 30 years. At a point, he became so recognizable that he was asked to parody himself in a major 2010 studio movie — the Judd Apatow-produced comedy, Get Him to the Greek. As testimony is pouring out at his trial, some viewers with the advantages of hindsight are pointing out that Combs’ biggest role may have revealed more of his personal life than was understood 17 years ago.
Combs is accused of overseeing a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in sex trafficking, forced labour, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice among other crimes. He pleaded not guilty and has denied all charges against him.
Get Him to the Greek is a music industry satire about a young record label exec, played by then-up-and-coming Jonah Hill, who is tasked by his megalomaniac boss (Combs, in what has been his biggest film role) to collect a troubled rock star played by then-relative newcomer Russell Brand (this character first appeared in the Apatow-produced Forgetting Sarah Marshall). A broad comedy and box office semi-hit filmed in the pre- #MeToo era, its humor did not age well. But it’s finding a second life now as a scrutinized relic from another era, with Combs’ self-parodying performance now looking a lot darker.
Here’s a look at some elements in Get Him to the Greek that are mirrored or eerily similar to accusations and evidence in Combs’ ongoing federal trial.
Abuse of employees
Throughout Combs’ trial, multiple former personal assistants have sat on the witness stand to discuss abuse they say they suffered under the Bad Boy Records founder. This has included David James, Diddy’s former personal assistant from 2007 to 2009. On the witness stand, James testified that during his interview for the job he was told, “This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom” and “we’re all here to serve him.” After a party where James told the court he’d taken some of Combs’ drugs and danced a little wildly, he was told by the mogul that footage of him from the event would be kept as a form of kompromat, in case Combs needed to keep him in check. And that “Combs’ world” alleged worldview was put in context in testimony from longtime Combs staffer Capricorn Clark, who told the court about being kidnapped by the mogul and taken to Kid Cudi’s Hollywood Hills home.
Hill’s character, Aaron, in Greek doesn’t become an unwilling participant in a break-in. But throughout the movie, Aaron certainly takes his share of abuse from Combs’ Sergio Roma. In a staff meeting scene, Combs’ CEO debases an employee after his phone rings, making him take the call, then demanding he throw the phone from his office. Discussing the tough time for the music industry, the character doesn’t show a lick of empathy for his team.
“I got villas in Brazil, Tahiti, East Hampton, West Hampton, Sergio gonna be fine. Fuck a recession. I own 21 Koo Koo Roos. Y’all don’t own one Koo Koo Roo, not one, not one. Y’all are fucked,” he tells them.
In a later scene, Combs’ pep talk to Hill’s character before he heads off to London devolves into a strange and dark abusive monologue about “mind-fucking.”
“You’ve been mind-fucked before?” Combs’ boss character asks Hill’s Aaron, “I’m mind-fucking you right now. Can’t you feel my dick fucking your mind? See? That’s it. That’s the art of it. I’m mind-fucking the shit out of you.”
Encouraging staff to mule drugs
Since his arrest in September, Combs has been accused of having asked several staff members to acquire and distribute drugs, including his security team, who, according to testimony, would at times drop Molly and other substances off at hotels where “freak-offs” were taking place. And George Kaplan, who worked as Diddy’s assistant from 2013 to 2015, also described being frequently threatened by Combs, and from the witness stand at his trial, detailed disturbing scenes he saw, including assaults and post-”freak-off” hotel room cleaning. Kaplan said the mogul would sometimes ask him to deliver a “medicine kit” to his hotel room containing prescription pills and over-the-counter pain meds and to burn narcotics, including MDMA. He was granted immunity to testify after he told the court he planned to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination.
Well, the script for Get Him to the Greek may have been prescient if Kaplan’s sworn testimony is true, as Combs’ character expresses a relaxed attitude to drug smuggling as he encourages Hill’s record exec to do just that as he boards a plane.
“It’s only a little bit of heroin in your ass. Nobody’s gonna die. You know what you signed up for,” he says.
Wild and debaucherous parties
In a major scene in the comedy, Combs’ Sergio is living it up, visibly high on drugs, as the character is in much of the runtime, at a party that ends in flaming furniture, gunfire from automatic weapons and violent physical assaults. This depiction is a far cry from what we’ve seen of Combs’ famous White Party galas, which from the 90s until 2009 were buttoned-up summertime soirees at various posh global locations, with a guest list that blended old money society types with the stars of the hip-hop world. But it seems, in some aspects, a bit more akin to the “freak-offs,” as described at his trial by Cassie Ventura and another alleged victim using the pseudonym Jane Doe.
As both women told the jury during Combs’ trial, the “freak-off” parties were drug-fueled sex marathons where they would take multiple substances with Combs and male sex workers. “Freak-offs” could last for up to four days and on occasion, as the victims testified, turn violent. This was the case, according to Ventura’s testimony, just before she fled a suite at the InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles and was violently assaulted by Combs; the security footage of Combs attacking Ventura in 2016 was leaked to CNN years later and has become a centerpiece of the trial, having already been played for the jury eight times.
The party scene in Get Him to the Greek, strangely enough, concludes with Combs’ character enraged and chasing down the comedy’s two main characters in a hotel hallway.
Sexual assault of a staff member
“Mia,” one of the victims to testify against Combs in New York, was his assistant for nearly a decade. Her real name has been kept anonymous because at the trial she discussed multiple instances where she said that she was sexually assaulted and raped by Combs. Before the trial, producer Lil’ Rod had accused Combs in a civil complaint of unwanted touching while he worked and lived with him for a year in 2018.
In the script for Greek, a somewhat nonsensical display of power from Combs’ Sergio character has him demanding that a female groupie named Destiny “… go and have sex with Aaron (Hill) right now.” This is forced upon Hill’s character, who has a live-in partner and no desire to have sex with this random woman. Later in the comedy this is confirmed, with Hill’s Aaron telling Brand’s character, “I think I’ve just been raped.” Which was perhaps funnier in 2010, we suppose.
You can check out all of these scenes and more featuring Combs in his biggest movie role on Netflix, where Get Him to the Greek is available to stream now.