The model and actor stopped by The Breakfast Club this week, where he opened up about a decades-old “street fight” allegedly involving Diddy and his entourage. Beckford recalled what started out as a typical day in New York City, talking with a friend outside of a tattoo shop when fashion stylist Groovey Lew — who was closely affiliated with Diddy at the time — asked him to take a photo with a woman he was with.
“I said, ‘Yo, my man, I’m having a conversation,’” he recalled, saying things quickly escalated into a fight. “He started getting tough. I said, ‘Lew, don’t talk to me like that.’ Next thing you know, he swung on me.”
Beckford went on to explain that the fight left him with a bloody head injury that required six stitches. An NYPD officer stopped to assess the situation but, despite the visible injuries, the star claims he drove off when both parties downplayed the altercation.
A few moments later, the tension grew, and Beckford claims Lew left the scene and then returned with Diddy and several members of his Bad Boy crew from a nearby office. Then, the model’s friend went to his Land Cruiser to retrieved his pistol-grip Mossberg shotgun.
“I said, ‘Look, I only got five [shells] in here,’” Beckford recalled. “Puff, you going to get it first… I’m going to shower the rest of y’all with it.”
No shots ended up being fired, and the confrontation ended without further violence–but Beckford spoke on just how close the situation came to taking a tragic turn.
“I could have saved the world a whole lot of trouble and took him out back then,” he said of Combs. “But then where would I be?”
When asked if he’s reconciled with the Bad Boy founder since the altercation, Beckford said, “I ain’t seen the man in years… but yeah, he know — don’t mess with me.”
More details about the altercation, along with other previously untold stories of his life, will be included in Beckford’s upcoming book and production project, Pretty Boy.
“I’m doing the book,” he said. “And all of that’s going to be in Pretty Boy. That’s a cold scene — standing on Sixth Avenue with a shotgun.”
Check out Tyson Beckford’s full interview on The Breakfast Club up above.
