Amazon has pulled a memoir attributed to late model Kim Porter that detailed alleged abuse at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, embattled hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The e-commerce giant on Tuesday removed “Kim’s Lost Words: A Journey for Justice, From the Other Side…” from its website. The removal comes on the heels of Porter’s children denouncing the work and casting doubt on its authenticity.
“We were made aware of a dispute regarding this title and have notified the publisher,” an Amazon spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement to The Times. “The book is not currently available for sale in our store.” It is unclear how many copies were sold.
The $22 memoir was published in early September and, despite being rife with errors and inaccuracies, became a bestseller shortly after Combs was arrested on Sept. 16 and indicted the next day on sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution-related charges. Porter’s four children, three of whom she shared with the Bad Boy Entertainment co-founder, condemned the memoir and said that claims that their mother wrote a book “are simply untrue.”
“[A]nyone claiming to have a manuscript is misrepresenting themselves,” they said. “Additionally, please understand that any so-called ‘friend’ speaking on behalf of our mom or her family is not a friend. Nor do they have her best interests at heart.”
Combs’ attorney Erica Wolf has also described the book as ”fake,” “offensive” and “a shameless attempt to profit from tragedy.”
Porter dated Combs on and off for about 13 years. She died at 47 in November 2018 after being found unresponsive at her San Fernando Valley residence. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner announced in January 2019 that she died a natural death due to lobar pneumonia — despite conspiracy theories that were shut down by her children.
The purported memoir’s cover said it was written “by Jamal T. Millwood for Kimberly A. Porter.” Millwood was later revealed to be author and investigative journalist Chris Todd, who, under his pen name, alleged in the book’s prologue that one of Porter’s last wishes was for “this memoir/diary to be made public.” But even he, who self-published the book, was skeptical about the entries’ authenticity.
Todd told Rolling Stone that he was given the source material by two people who said they were close to Porter and Combs after Combs’ ex Casandra “Cassie” Ventura sued him in November. He also told the Associated Press that sources “very close to Kim and Sean Combs” provided him with a “flash drive, documents and tapes” from Porter that he pieced together to create the memoir.
Combs, who has been the subject of a sweeping federal inquiry over the past year, has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges levied him. However, the rap impresario also faces a mountain of civil lawsuits, including one looming class-action lawsuit. On Tuesday, Texas attorney Tony Buzbee said he was planning to file that lawsuit on behalf of more than 100 people, including some who were minors at the time, who allege that Combs and others sexually abused and exploited them.