Aubrey O’Day Claims She Was Fired For Rejecting Diddy

Trigger warning: This article contains graphic details about sexual assault and rape. 

Aubrey O’Day is speaking out once again about the alleged abuse she experienced while working with Sean “Diddy” Combs during her years in Danity Kane, this time in the new four-part Netflix docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning, executive-produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and directed by Alexandria Stapleton.

Aubrey O’Day claimed she was removed from Danity Kane because she declined Diddy’s sexual advances.

O’Day—who was selected to join Danity Kane on season 3 of Making the Band in 2005—appears in the third and fourth episodes, where she detailed the mistreatment she suffered while working with the Bad Boy label exec.

Now 41, she recalled being singled out early on, with Diddy making inappropriate comments about her appearance. 

“Diddy made it clear that I was ‘the looker,’” O’Day said in episode three, according to Variety. “I remember that phrase a lot. He was separating me, and there was a different set of expectations from me, and I just naturally float into the grooming.”

Danity Kane’s self-titled debut album arrived in 2006, earning major commercial success in the U.S. with one million copies shipped and producing two hit singles—the top-10 track “Show Stopper” and the ballad “Ride for You.” Their follow-up album, Welcome to the Dollhouse, was released in 2008 after the group scored another top-10 single with “Damaged.” With these back-to-back No. 1 debuts, Danity Kane became the first female group in history to see their first two albums enter the Billboard 200 chart at No. 1.

However, internal tensions eventually surfaced, culminating in the October 2008 season finale of Making the Band 4, where Diddy dismissed Aubrey O’Day and D. Woods (Wanita Denise Woodgett) from the group. 

In the documentary, O’Day said she believed she was booted from the group because she declined Diddy’s sexual advances. The singer claimed he “crossed the line” during their time working together. She described one incident where he allegedly sent “emails with pictures of his penis.” Reading one of the emails aloud for the camera, one message allegedly read:

“‘I don’t wanna just fu-k you. I wanna turn you out. I can see you being with some motherf**** that you tell what to do. I make my woman do what I tell her to do, and she loves it. I just want—and like—to do things different. I’mma finish watching this porn and finish masturbating. I’ll think of you, happy face. If you change your mind and get ready to do what I say, hit me. Happy face. God bless, Diddy. God is the greatest.”

Reacting to the shocking message, Aubrey O’Day told the documentary crew: 

“This is your boss at your work sending you that e-mail. What happens in real life to anyone else? Your boss gets fired. Six months later, I was fired. I absolutely felt that I was fired for not participating sexually, but I also found out later that [fellow Danity Kane member] Dawn [Richard] and Puff were recording a different project. I was the star of the show, and Puff needed to move that entire audience over to a new project.”

Aubrey O’Day also read an excerpt from a shocking affadavit in which a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by Diddy.

In the final episode, O’Day revealed another shocking story. She claimed she received an affidavit from a woman who alleged that she accidentally walked into a room where O’Day was “sprawled out on a leather couch, looking very inebriated,” Variety reported. The incident allegedly happened in 2005, according to USA Today. 

The woman claimed she was looking for the bathroom when she allegedly walked in on O’Day “naked from the bottom half,” allegedly being sexually assaulted by Diddy.  “Puff Daddy was penetrating in her vagina, and there was another stalky light-skinned man with his penis in her mouth,” O’Day revealed while reading the affidavit on camera.

The singer became emotional as she claimed she had no recollection of the incident.

“I didn’t drink like that at all—I don’t drink at all, it’s never been an issue with me,” she said. “Does this mean I was raped?” O’Day asked. “Is that what this means? I don’t even know if I was raped, and I don’t want to know. I don’t want to find out any more that that woman has to say. If she made it up, I would be compelled to take her the fuck down. You realize the burden that that puts on my soul for the past year, which is if I expose one victim who’s got a civil lawsuit, that gives Diddy and his legal team credit to take down everybody else as potential liars…It goes right back on my shoulders, just like that. The weight of that man and his bullsh-t…I will never get up from under it.”

She has long spoken out about Diddy’s controlling and abusive behaviour. 

In 2024, O’Day publicly reminded fans that she was “the first” celebrity to rally behind Cassie when the “Me & U” singer filed her explosive sexual assault lawsuit against Combs in November 2023. “[I was] the first one who came out and stood for her,” the 40-year-old told Us Weekly at the time. “It was a little too silent for my liking.”

The “Damaged” singer elaborated further, saying:

“I had it up within the first five minutes of seeing it because Cassie is a victim and she has an insane amount of bravery. There are so many stories that range from this side to this side; not everything looks the same. Not every situation this man has been in looks the same, but hers truly broke through the wall. We don’t know why. This one broke through.”

Aubrey O’Day also claimed in September 2024 that Combs attempted to have her and her Danity Kane bandmates sign nondisclosure agreements that would prevent them from speaking negatively about him or the Bad Boy label in exchange for their publishing rights. She says she urged the others not to sign and alleges that the offer made to her for her own publishing was significantly below industry standards.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Sean “Diddy” Combs has sharply criticized 50 Cent’s Netflix docuseries, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, calling it a “shameful hit piece” and accusing the production of using “stolen footage that was never authorized for release.” 

When questioned about the claim, Netflix directed Variety to a statement from director Alexandria Stapleton, who insisted:

“It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights.” She added, “We moved heaven and earth to keep the filmmaker’s identity confidential…We also reached out to Sean Combs’ legal team for an interview and comment multiple times, but did not hear back.”

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts on Dec. 1, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson explained why he felt compelled to executive-produce the series at a time when Combs is serving 50 months in jail on prostitution-related charges. 

“If I didn’t say anything, you would interpret it as hip-hop is fine with his behaviors,” he said. “There’s no one else being vocal. So, you would look at it and just say…‘mind your business,’ or ‘lemme not say nothin’ about nothin,” or those things that would allow an entire culture to register as if they’re for that behavior.”

Have you seen Sean Combs: The Reckoning on Netflix yet? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.

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