Saturday Night Live comedian Ana Gasteyer has recalled the time that disgraced rapper Diddy shut down the set, calling him one of “five a**holes* that she’s worked with.
Diddy, real name Sean Combs, was arrested on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges in September and is currently awaiting a 5 May trial.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years while being aided by a network of associates and employees, as he silenced victims through methods of blackmail, kidnapping, arson and physical assaults.
Gasteyer, who worked on SNL between 1996 and 2002, talked about the business mogul’s prima donna-like behaviour, when he appeared on the 9 May 1998 episode as musical guest.
“He of course shut down the whole building. You can tell the five a**holes in the six years that I was there when they would be like, ‘So-and-so is in the building, everybody stay in your dressing rooms!’” she told Las Culturistas podcast.
“Which is applicable if you’re a presidential candidate. But apart from that, really it’s my house. He demanded a totally closed set.”
After the high-maintenance musician made his demands, mischievous SNL stars couldn’t help but lighten the mood. Will Ferrell, who was dressed as Ron from the show’s “Mango” skit, decided to break the tension.
“They [the cast and staff] were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be so funny if Ron just went in?’” she said.
“And he did. He went on down the stairs and he marched right in. And I have the video from the control room where Sean Combs is rapping and behind him, Ron is just walking around looking really disoriented.”
Gasteyer said that the joke turned the experience into one of her fondest memories.
“It is the greatest thing that’s ever happened, because what a deserved person to have their ‘Kashmir’ moment interrupted by Ron. And he really did not roll with it. He was very uncomfortable.”
Last week it was revealed that the musician allegedly sacrificed a bird hours before he was acquitted on all charges relating to a 1999 shooting in New York.
In the new Hulu documentary The Honorable Shyne, Combs’s former bodyguard Gene Deal claims that while Combs was on his way to learn the verdict in the trial he stopped in New York’s Central Park.
There, Deal says he saw Combs drop to his knees in front of another man before smoke swirled around him. Deal believes the smoke to have been caused by burning sage.
The bodyguard says he saw the man holding a bible while praying and laying his hands on Combs. He then told Combs to remove a white bird from a cage. After Combs threw the animal into the air, it dropped to the ground dead.
