"Similar to Diddy’s alleged practices" — Ex-publicist of The Notorious B.I.G. estate accuses Biggie Smalls' team of s*xual harassment

Longtime publicist Jonathan Hays has accused a member of deceased rapper Biggie Smalls' estate of alleged s*xual harrassment. Hays has previously worked for Biggie's estate after being hired by the rapper's son, CJ Wallace, in 2022.

Hays said he joined Biggie's estate after CJ Wallace hired him to reproduce some of the rapper's biggest hits. He claimed that during his time working for the estate, one of The Notorious B.I.G's estate members allegedly made s*xual advances towards him.

In an exclusive interview with All Hip Hop, Jonathan Hays compared his experiences to the alleged practices of Sean Diddy Combs.

“My experiences with the Biggie Smalls team turned abominable to say the least. Similar to Diddy’s alleged practices, The Notorious B.I.G. estate refused to acknowledge my s*xual harassment complaints when I awkwardly came forward," Hays said.

"I wouldn’t participate in phone s*x, nor would I watch one of the representatives of The Notorious B.I.G estate pleasure himself on a video chat during the pandemic."

Hays added that he missed almost two years of "exclusive Biggie work," and the project was eventually canceled.

“For two years after the disgusting incidents, I lived with regret that I didn’t ‘go along’ with all that freaky ass weirdness, as I was instantly shunned and they terminated the project. I lost a significant amount of money and almost two years of exclusive Biggie work," Hays said.

Hip-hop legend Biggie Smalls, originally named Christopher Wallace, was assassinated in March 1997 by an anonymous assailant during a drive-by in Los Angeles. The rapper is believed to have had a close relationship with Diddy and was the first artist to sign with Bad Boy Records in 1993.

In Biggie's last single, released before his death, Hypnotize, he rapped that he and Diddy were “close like Starsky and Hutch.”

Publicist Jonathan Hays' allegations against Biggie Smalls' estate members and Diddy explored

In his exclusive interview with All Hip Hop, publicist Jonathan Hays said that at the time of his job, Diddy was still a partner in The Estate of Christopher Wallace. The estate allegedly included musical records featuring him and Jay-Z.

Hays explained that alleged victims coming out to accuse Sean Combs gave him the courage to come out with his experiences.

“I have strong resources, but in no way could I go up against the estate of The Notorious B.I.G., Diddy and JAY-Z. It’s only now that I can speak out about this because so many strong women have come forward with lawsuits and alleged criminal complaints against the former Bad Boy mogul.”

Per Hays' allegations, one incident featured Sean Combs, his son King Combs, and two members of Biggie Smalls' estate. The publicist claimed to have been on a Zoom call with the rappers after the release of the Hays and Frank White’s track, Big Poppa (House Mix).

During the alleged incident, Combs had complained about the track not being "good enough." Hays alleged that he saw the rapper sniffing something, which he believed to be ketamine or cocaine.

“Diddy said that I needed to make house music with ketamine, as that’s how all the ravers would hear it at places like Burning Man and Miami Ultra Music Fest," the publicist said, adding, "While on this bizarre pep talk call from Diddy, he was also sniffing Ketamine or cocaine, which was so crazy to me at the time. I was flabbergasted he was sniffing, especially with this kid being on the Zoom too.”

2018 Fox Network Upfront (Image via Getty)

Jonathan Hays claimed that the deal with Biggie Smalls' estate later fell apart, and the project was terminated.

Jonathan Hays contacted Faith Evans to open up about alleged s*xual harassment while working with Biggie Smalls' estate

After the project was allegedly terminated, Jonathan Hays claimed to have made a “last ditch effort.” He said he contacted Faith Evans via her manager to speak about the alleged s*xual harrassment he faced while working for Notorious BIG's estate.

“I let them know that a representative of The Notorious B.I.G estate had made extremely unwanted s*xual advances toward me,” he explained. “I also attached the gross mp3 of Biggie’s rep singing repeatedly that he loved me in a very weird way," Hays said.

All Hip Hop reported that their representatives heard the alleged audio clip referred to in Hays' interview. Hays claimed that despite an email acknowledgment from Evans' representatives, no one got back to him about the audio clip. Further, he alleged that Diddy and Biggie Smalls' associates sent him threatening texts after the incident.

"It became somewhat concerning when I started receiving random texts of threats from Diddy’s associates and those associated with Biggie’s estate. For almost a year I stayed low-key with my girlfriend in Washington Heights, Manhattan after we temporarily moved to Texas to get out of Brooklyn," Hays alleged.

Jonathan Hays reportedly received a cease-and-desist letter from Biggie's estate. The letter allegedly accused Hays of "threatening to release the above-referenced album without its authorization."

It also included an email to CJ Wallace written by Hays, in which he allegedly threatened to release the album on his own. The letter reportedly also accused Hays of violating a "non-disclosure agreement." Eventually, Hays' project with the Biggie Smalls' estate never materialized.

Sean Diddy Combs was arrested on three counts of s*x trafficking and racketeering charges in September. He is currently awaiting trial in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Multiple alleged victims have also accused the rapper of r*pe, s*xual assault, and harassment.

Edited by Shreya Das