Amid the explosive Diddy abuse scandal, a source sent Page Six a jaw-dropping VHS tape that was sent out as an invitation to the mogul’s 29th birthday in 1998.
The nearly six-minute video serves both as a time-capsule from the peak of the Bad Boy era and as a reminder of how far Diddy — who even skipped this year’s Grammy Awards — has slipped socially amid the investigation.
The tape — which arrived in the hands of the most powerful and glamorous players in Los Angeles and New York in a black-velvet pouch with “The Birthday Gala, November 4 1998” written on it in white script — features Oprah, Donald Trump, Derek Jeter, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock, Mariah Carey, Magic Johnson, Will Smith, Ben Stiller, Joan Rivers, Wyclef Jean, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Tommy Hilfiger, Clive Davis, Ronald Perelman, Penny Marshall, Robin Leach and Stephen Baldwin, among others, taking turns to hype the bash, encourage the recipients to RSVP and to goof off for the camera.
It begins with a strange home video-style skit in which Danny Devito — lying on a sofa under a blanket — says, “That’s right, Puff Daddy is having a party, and this is Puff Daddy inviting you to come! Let’s have a ball!”
Then the cavalcade of A-Listers take turns reading from a script detailing the date and time, exactly how fabulous (and expensive) the affair will be, and then reading an address to RSVP to. They say that the venue — which turned out to be Cipriani Wall Street — would be revealed later.
Trump refers to the “I’ll Be Missing You Rapper” as “The legendary P Diddy,” some — including Rock and Degeneres — tease Diddy for his many names, and some make fun of their own unease with hip hop slang.