Mel B was not impressed when she met Diddy before the 1998 MOBO Awards she was hosting – and called him out for his rude behaviour
Mel B has hit out at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs over his shock treatment of her at an awards ceremony.
Scary Spice said that although she’s pretty ‘tough’, it still knocked her when the rapper refused to get off stage at the 1998 MOBO Awards, which she was presenting and needed to rehearse for. After confronting the I’ll Be Missing You singer, she claims Diddy then called her a b****h.
Writing in her memoir, Brutally Honest, the 49-year-old revealed: “People think I am so tough, and to some degree I am. I can stand my ground against the likes of Sean ‘P. Diddy’ ‘Puffy’ Combs, who – back in 1998, when I’d been asked to host the MOBO Awards in London – wouldn’t get off the stage to let me start my rehearsals for the show. I had to perform as well as host the show.
“He’d turned up with a massive entourage and then run into my rehearsal time with the clock ticking less than an hour before the doors were due to open. I was watching, fuming, as he said he wanted another run-through. I marched out towards him. ‘No, I need to rehearse my song NOW,’ I said.”
Mel wrote: “He didn’t even look at me, just raised his mic and said, ‘Get this bitch off the stage.'” Sharing how it made her feel, Mel continued: “I was livid. This was a British show, and we don’t behave like that over here. No-one has the right to say that about anyone. I went up and poked him in the shoulder. ‘What did you say? Get WHAT off the stage?’
“He tried to ignore me, so I said, ‘Listen, I’m introducing you tonight, so I’d be nice if I were you. The doors are opening in ten minutes. I need to rehearse. Can you get off the f**king stage!'” Eventually Diddy – who is currently in jail awaiting sex trafficking charges – did as he was asked.
But Mel was even more insulted when Diddy sent her a gift as an apology, which she was not impressed with. Recalling the experience, she said: “I got my rehearsal, and about half an hour later one of his bouncers turned up in my dressing room with a peace offering – a jacket with P. Diddy’s name splashed all over it. It looked like a bloody cagoule.
“There’s no way I’d be walking around with his name on my back. ‘Thanks,’ I said with a fake smile, then I threw it back at the bouncer. I wanted to send a message back. Nobody has the right to treat anyone like that. And some crummy jacket was not an acceptable apology.”
After their clash, Diddy went on to perform at the event where he won two awards. Mel went on to host the show, which was so successful she was asked back to host the MOBO Awards again the following year.
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