Sean Combs’ lavish White Parties marked the peak of his cultural influence

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — There was a time when one of the hottest summer tickets belonged to anyone who was able to score an invite to party with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

These days, people aren’t rushing to be associated with the now disgraced and detained businessman and producer.

Combs faces up to life in prison if convicted for his indictment in the Southern District of New York on counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case has put a spotlight on the lifestyle Combs once lived.

That allegedly included “Freak Offs,” Combs’ name for elaborate sex performances in which, according to the indictment, he is accused of drugging and coercing victims into performing extended sex acts with male sex workers, beginning around 2009.

The indictment has sparked conversation about the contrast between Combs’ cultural influence at its peak, like the massive White Parties he hosted from 1998 to 2009, and his alleged behavior behind closed doors in the years that followed.

‘Modern day Gatsby’

Combs reportedly started hosting the annual parties in 1998 to mark his presence in the exclusive Hamptons community of New York. His dream was to integrate his hip-hop lifestyle with the East Coast elite and “strip away everyone’s image and put us all in the same color, and on the same level,” Combs told Oprah Winfrey in a 2006 interview.

“I had the craziest mix: some of my boys from Harlem; Leonardo DiCaprio, after he’d just finished [the hit 1997 film] ‘Titanic,’” Combs said. “I had socialites there and relatives from down south. There were 200 people sitting out here, just having a down-home cookout.”

Not everyone in the enclave was on board with the idea.

“The people in the Hamptons thought the first party was the end of the world,” Steven Gaines, author of “Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons,” told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. “They were afraid of a noisy showbiz crowd and thought it was going to be an invasion, and it turned out not to be.”

For his part, Combs clearly envisioned himself as a modern-day Jay Gatsby, the fictional character of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby,” a millionaire who lived in Long Island and was ironically portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2013 film adaptation.

“Have I read The Great Gatsby?” Combs told The Independent in 2001. “I am the Great Gatsby!”

“It doesn’t seem to bother Combs that Gatsby’s life ended in shattered dreams, his well-heeled friends exposed as fickle and insincere,” the publication noted at the time.

‘Iconic’

The soirees were popular from the beginning, drawing entertainment talent and titans of industries.

The initial guest list reportedly maxed out at 1,000 people, all whom were required to dress fully in white, according to THR.

“Having an entire party all dressed in white was a stunning sight,” domestic doyenne Martha Stewart, a guest at Combs’ first party, told THR in 2018.

Socialite and businesswoman Paris Hilton described the initial event as “iconic and everyone was there.”

CNN has reached out to representatives for Stewart and Hilton for comment.

The parties branched out from Labor Day events to Fourth of July celebrations and changed locations to include Los Angeles and Saint-Tropez.

Combs used some of the parties as fundraisers for various causes he supported, illustrating his social influence at the time.

“The party seemed to get bigger and bigger as corporate sponsors hopped on board and Combs used it to launch colognes, vodka, and even philanthropic efforts,” GQ reported in 2016.

“The last official White Party on record, in 2009, took place in Los Angeles,” the publication reported. “But at its heart, Puff Daddy’s [Combs’] White Party was the backyard bbq to end all backyard bbq’s, capturing a slice of pop culture that’s hard to believe mingled together today.”

Photos from over the years show cross-generational guests in attendance.

‘We gonna keep on having fun’

As Combs faces legal allegations, some have been reexamining past coverage of his parties for insight into his private life.

A clip from a 1999 interview with “Entertainment Tonight” in which Combs talked about his White Parties resurfaced on social media this week.

“They don’t want me to throw the parties no more,” Combs said. “But we ain’t going to stop. We gonna keep on having fun. Bringing people together from all walks of life.”

He even makes a prediction.

“You gonna hear about my parties,” Combs said. “They gonna be shutting them down, they gonna probably be arresting me, doing all types of crazy things just because we want to have a good time.”

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