Sean Combs' Mom Asked About Deadly Stampede at His Event. 'He Called Her a Bitch and Slapped Her,' Ex-Friend Says By Nicole Acosta, Chris Spargo, and Danielle Bacher

Bad Boy Records co-founder Kirk Burrowes claims in a new Netflix documentary that Sean “Diddy” Combs “slapped” his own mother and insulted her when she confronted him over a fatal stampede at a 1991 event he promoted in New York City.

The four-part series Sean Combs: The Reckoning, released on Tuesday, Dec. 2, features intimate footage, shot with Combs’ knowledge, in the six days leading up to his September 2024 arrest and indictment, as well as interviews with former friends and jurors from his federal trial, per a Netflix press release.

In the first episode, Burrowes — who was Combs’ childhood friend — recalls the aftermath of the December 1991 stampede during a sold-out celebrity basketball game at City College of New York in Harlem that left nine people dead. The crowd rushed the gymnasium doors, and those who died were crushed at the bottom of a staircase. No criminal charges were filed in connection with the deadly incident, CNN reported.

Following the tragedy, Burrowes remembered talking about what happened with Combs and his mother, Janice Combs, while in a Manhattan hotel room.

“He didn’t know what was going to happen,” Burrowes said in the docuseries. “And I saw Janice question Sean. He’s going into this music business thing. 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,” he claims. “Call her a bitch and slapped her. He’s not looking back.”

In the docuseries, a title card states that Combs did not respond to the filmmakers’ request for comment on the accusation that he physically harmed his mother.

That docuseries comes in the wake of the disgraced music mogul’s federal convictions on two prostitution-related charges, for which he is currently serving a 50-month prison sentence handed down in October. Combs, 56, is also facing dozens of lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault.

A civil suit filed by Burrowes against Combs in 2025, alleging years of “predatory” actions toward him, remains pending, Netflix said. Burrowes previously filed a suit against Combs over an alleged 1996 incident in 2003, but the earlier complaint was eventually dismissed, PEOPLE reported.

One day before the docuseries’ release, Combs’ spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, called the project a “shameful hit piece” in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, claiming that “Netflix relied on stolen footage that was never authorized for release.”

“As Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos know, Mr. Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way. It is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work,” the spokesperson said.

“For Netflix to give his life story to someone who has publicly attacked him for decades feels like an unnecessary and deeply personal affront,” he added, referencing longtime rival Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s role as a producer of the series.

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When asked specifically about the allegations that Combs slapped his mother, Engelmayer said: “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. Several of these stories have already been addressed in court filings, and others were never raised in any legal forum because they’re simply not true. The project was built around a one-sided narrative led by a publicly admitted adversary, and it repeats allegations without context, evidence, or verification.”

In the Netflix press release, Stapleton explained the broader intentions behind the docuseries.

“This isn’t just about the story of Sean Combs or the story of Cassie, or the story of any of the victims, or the allegations against him, or the trial,” she said. “Ultimately, this story is a mirror [reflecting us] as the public, and what we are saying when we put our celebrities on such a high pedestal. I hope [this documentary] is a wake-up call for how we idolize people, and to understand that everybody is a human being.”

Sean Combs: The Reckoning is streaming now on Netflix.