Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is helping Miami families to pay rent during pandemic

Rapper has a long history of philanthropy

Sean “Diddy” Combs is giving a grant to a local organisation that will help 175 families in Miami to pay rent during the coronavirus pandemic.

Combs, who has a home in Miami, announced the grant at an event at the House of Wings in the city’s Overton neighbourhood on Tuesday (29 December). He also handed out $50 (£36) bills, gift cards and hygiene essentials to families.

He is partnering with Teens Exercising Extraordinary Success for the initiative.

Combs has a long history of philanthropy. In the Nineties, he founded Diddy’s House Social Programmes, an organisation to help inner city youth.  

In 2005, he pledged $1m (£737,000) to help support victims of Hurricane Katrina and donated clothing from his Sean John fashion line to victims.

He has also donated computers and books to New York schools, and in 2016 gave $1m (£737,000) to Howard University to establish the Sean Combs Scholarship Fund to help students who are unable to pay their tuition.

The “I’ll Be Missing You” artist has won three Grammys over the course of his music career. In 2019, Forbes estimated his net worth at $740m (£546m).