Mel ‘Scary Spice’ B has shared a heated on-stage confrontation with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs during the 1998 MOBO Awards, where the music mogul cussed her “bi**h.”
The updated version of her 2018 memoir, Brutally Honest, notes how the Spice Girl was co-hosting the event with American comedian Bill Bellamy and had planned to rehearse her performance before the show began. However, Diddy and his large entourage occupied the stage during her scheduled rehearsal time, refusing to leave.
“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’ Combes, 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,” Mel wrote.
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“No, I need to rehearse my song NOW,” she told him. Diddy, without looking at her, reportedly raised his microphone and responded, “Get this bi**h off the stage.”
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“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.” She continued, “I went up and poked him in the shoulder. ‘What did you say? Get WHAT off the stage?’”
Later, one of Diddy’s bodyguards tried to ease the matter in her dressing room: a jacket emblazoned with the rapper’s name. Mel rejected the gesture, writing, “It looked like a bloody cagoule… I threw it back at the bouncer. I wanted them to send a message back. Nobody has the right to treat anyone like that.”
Diddy went on to perform at the awards and won two accolades that night, while Mel returned as a host for the event the following year.
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Currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City, Diddy is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He denies all allegations, and a trial date has been set for May 5, 2025.
