A storied lineage of celebrities have played Batman’s nemesis, The Joker, from a pair of Academy Award winners (Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger) to iconic Hollywood stars like Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson. And we can now add Diddy to this list, after he committed to an inspired performance art bit for Halloween.
The music mogul, 52, first posted a video of him sitting in a makeup chair on his Instagram, telling people to “be nice, be kind, drink responsibly,” and enjoy the holiday weekend. (Ever the promoter, he also threw in multiple shoutouts to DeLeón, his tequila company, and Cîroc, with whom he has a high-profile partnership.) After that wholesome start, the posts abruptly got wilder, featuring clips of him carrying a fake tommy gun and grenades in a parking garage, unveiling a pretty solid Joker cackle, and apparently getting his hands on an actual flamethrower. He also had a crew of associates clad in eerie clown masks to add to the malevolent ambience.
In a clear nod to Ledger’s take on the character in The Dark Knight, Diddy ran around Los Angeles in a purple suit and green wig, running into several other stars, most notably in and around Lenny S, Karrueche and Lala’s annual Halloween party. Some encounters went well, like this one with a cackling Tyler, the Creator. Others, like his tense interaction with Power star Michael J. Ferguson, did not go so smoothly: It was pretty clear that Ferguson did not know it was Diddy, who was virtually unrecognizable beneath the makeup. When he finally broke character, the actor smiled, and the two embraced, though Diddy kept imploring him to “change your vibration.”
Given his bombastic personality, it’s hardly surprising that Diddy has a long history of elaborate Halloween costumes. In 2018, he pulled off a deeply freaky Pennywise the Clown from It, while in 2012 he did an homage to Prince. (The Joker is sometimes referred to as “The Clown Prince of Crime,” so in a sense this year’s outfit was just a mashup of Diddy’s previous work.)