Lance Bass questioned Sean “Diddy” Combs’ character long before the rapper was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The *NSYNC singer, 45, admitted that he stopped liking Combs after overhearing the Bad Boy Records founder advising Justin Timberlake to quit the band.
“I overheard him talking to Justin being like, ‘You need to drop these effers. You need to go solo. You need to drop these,’” Bass recalled on Wednesday’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.”
“I was like, ‘I don’t like you anymore, Diddy.’ I’m like, ‘At my own show? What the hell!’” he continued. “So I never liked him.”
Host Andy Cohen joked that he would “not be hearing from Diddy about that,” to which Bass replied, “He’s got bigger problems than Lance Bass slagging him off on ‘Watch What Happens Live.’”
He added, “The gloves are off!”
Cohen, 56, went on to share that Bass held back some of the details about Diddy’s conversation with Timberlake once they were live.
“By the way, Lance said during the [commercial] break the Diddy conversation was even worse than he said,” the Bravo executive told viewers, to which Bass admitted, “I edited it a little bit.”
Bass confirmed that he never attended any of Combs’ star-studded parties – or his “freak offs,” in which the hip-hop mogul allegedly drugged and raped attendees, per the indictment.
“No, I never had time to go to a Diddy party,” said Bass. “I forgot he had opened up our last tour until all this kind of came about. But, yeah, it’s kinda horrible.”
Combs, 54, was arrested on Sept. 16 and charged with three counts: racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution.
In an unsealed indictment, prosecutors claimed Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct” for decades.
He is also accused of “creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in … sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
Combs pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held in a NYC jail after being denied bail.
Concerns over Combs’ allegedly abusive past surfaced in November 2023 when his ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, sued him for raping and abusing her throughout their 10-year relationship.
Diddy denied the allegations and they settled the suit the next day. However, in May 2024, a video surfaced of the music producer beating Cassie at a hotel in 2016.
The “Me & U” singer’s lawsuit opened the floodgates and at least a dozen people have come forward with legal accusations against the father of seven.
Combs is allegedly planning on testifying in the sex trafficking trial, his attorney revealed this week.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.