Mark Ronson felt "deeply unnerved" by Sean 'Diddy' Combs when he used to DJ at the shamed rap star's parties in New York
The 50-year-old music producer used to be a regular behind the decks and worked at plenty of Combs' events over the years, but he's insisted the hip-hop mogul - who has been convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution - barely spoke to him and had no idea about the "horrific allegations of what was also going on beneath the surface"
18 September 2025
In his new memoir Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City, Ronson writes: "For all the gigs I played for Puff [Combs], he probably spoke five sentences to me.
"But even to me, the DJ, he emitted a chaotic energy that left me both starstruck and deeply unnerved ... [It was] abundantly clear ... [he] wielded a tremendous amount of power and cachet [in the club scene] ...
"He made people's careers - playing gigs for him certainly helped mine - and his disapproval meant a certain kind of exile ... Nobody thought of Puffy as a rapper [but only as] a force who could will anything into existence, no matter the cost."
He added of Combs: "He took over downtown [New York City] - and then the Hamptons - until the whole city seemed to revolve around him and his parties.
"I'm sure he thought I was a great DJ, but on his mission to shake up New York society, it didn't hurt to have a fresh-faced white kid from a nice family in the booth.
"When I got booked to play his parties, I'd look to the VIP area and see people like Muhammad Ali, Martha Stewart, Denzel [Washington] and the Duchess of York [Sarah Ferguson] all mingling. Everyone went."
Ronson went on to explain that back in the 1990s, the "only controversy surrounding Puff was around the music," and added it took decades for "horrific allegations of what was also going on beneath the surface [to come out]."
The I'll Be Missing You hitmaker went on trial in New York earlier this year and was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges but was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
He remains behind bars ahead of a sentencing hearing on October 5 and faces up to 20 years in prison.
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