Sean "Puffy" Combs has apologized to Steve Stoute for allegedly barging into Stoute's Manhattan office and assaulting him. Stoute reported that Combs pummeled him with a chair, a telephone, and a champagne bottle, reportedly breaking his arm, amongst other injuries.
Head of the security team Paul Offord, 29, is also facing charges. Combs could face up to 7 years in prison, if convicted of all charges.
“I felt like I disappointed the hip-hop community, because everything I do I’m trying to be a team player in taking hip-hop to the next level," Combs told MTV. "I really made a major mistake. I let my emotions get the best of me and I just made a mistake.”
Combs, who is still facing criminal charges in the alleged attack, is trying to cut a deal with prosecutors to reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor, sources say. Combs will make no cash compensation to Stoute, but has agreed to pay him producer and management fees of at least $500,000. This fee is for production of albums and videos and as manager of artists who record on Bad Boy Entertainment, which is Puffy's label.
The attack allegedly took place because of the controversy surrounding the airing of the music video "Hate Me Now," featuring NAS, which depicts Puffy and NAS nailed to crosses. Though a disclaimer ran at the beginning of the Hype Williams-directed video, Puffy reports that he tried to stop the airing of that version of the video. Why Stoute was targeted is unclear because Stoute is with Interscope Records, and it was NAS' label, Columbia Records, that delivered the wrong version of the video to MTV.
“The first time I started hearing Puffy, you know, talk about the crucifixion scenes was a few days before [the video] was supposed to air,” NAS told MTV. “He was asking me, you know, am I nervous about it? He was saying that maybe we should let other people see it and get their opinions, ‘cause he want[ed] to know how people [were] going to look at it.”
MTV took the "Hate Me Now" video off the air until both Bad Boy Entertainment and Columbia Records could settle their differences, but is now back on the air minus the controversial scene.
Though apologetic, Puffy denies some of the injuries reported. “I can say this, his jaw was never broken as was reported. His arm was never broken. I mean, I never hit him with a bottle or a chair or nothing like that. The other things, I wish could get into, because I’ve had to deal with hearing everybody else’s report of how it went and not having a chance to speak on mine. But I can’t get into the play-by-play details, but I can say this: I’m totally wrong and I really feel sorry about it.”
Stoute has been reported as demanding as much as $12 million, but ironically the two appeared together to announce the nominees at the Source Hip Hop Music Awards, according to MTV. Furthermore, inside sources say that the two planned to sit together when the Knicks played the San Antonio Spurs in New York.
