P. Diddy Baby Oil Costume Controversy

Submission 75

Part of a series on Diddy's 1,000 Bottles Of Baby Oil. [View Related Entries]

Overview

The P. Diddy Baby Oil Costume Controversy refers to a late October 2024 controversy centered on a TikTok photo slideshow posted by TikToker Allegra's Diary (@allegra.cabassi) showing a white boy and girl who were dressed as rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs and a bottle of baby oil for Halloween, concerning Diddy's 1,000 Bottles Of Baby Oil documented during his arrest. The boy was doing Blackface, also wearing a red bow tie and a black sports coat with no undershirt. The girl as the bottle of baby oil was dressed in pink, resembling the Johnson's brand. The couple's costume was controversial as many dubbed it racist and tone-deaf. It spread online to social media sites like Twitter / X where negative reactions and viral criticism surfaced en masse.

Background

Sometime on or before October 27th, 2024, a TikToker named Allegra's Diary (@allegra.cabassi) posted a photo slideshow of different couples' costumes worn by her friends for a Halloween party. One costume showed a white boy and girl dressed as rapper Diddy and a bottle of Johnson's baby oil (shown below). The guy was doing Blackface and wearing a red bow tie. The slideshow has since been deleted and Allegra has since privated, deleted or changed her account.

The slideshow was screen recorded and reposted by TikToker^[1] @samattic0011 on October 27th, whose video received roughly 13,700 likes in a day (shown below).

Online Reaction

In the following days, multiple TikTokers posted videos that reacted to the controversial costume. For instance, on October 27th, 2024, TikToker^[2] @demolisseuse posted a video in which she was greenscreened in front of the image, gaining over 4.6 million plays and 505,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Also on October 27th, X^[3] user @jrdanxo tweeted a screenshot of the costume, saying, "This is insanely weird" because not only was the boy doing Blackface but also the allegations against Diddy were so heinous. The post amassed over 227,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Later on October 27th, X^[4] user @NorthwestNick quote retweeted one of his previous tweets that joked about how there was a white person somewhere who was going to choose a Halloween costume that would mess up their whole future, concerning Cancel Culture. @NorthwestNick quoted the post with the P. Diddy and baby oil costume, receiving over 31,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Both abovementioned tweets garnered viral reactions in the replies and QRTs in the following days. For instance, on October 27th, 2024, X^[5] user @domolys quoted @NorthwestNick, wondering why the boy was wearing a red bow tie and dirty sneakers. The red bow tie is akin to the Black minstrel stereotype. The QRT received over 215,000 likes in a day (shown below).