Simon & Schuster is no longer so sure about publishing the memoir of R&B singer Al B. Sure, which promised to reveal new scandals about Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The publisher has pulled the singer’s book Do You Believe Me Now? from its website, and Page Six reports the project “is on ice.”
Al B. Sure’s attorney, Robert J. Hantman, told Page Six the project stalled because of “creative differences.”
“Simon & Schuster wanted him to include more stuff about P. Diddy, but he didn’t really want to go there,” Hantman said about the singer.
“He hopes to work it out with them,” he added. Hantman also said that he believes “somebody could have interfered because they were afraid of the truth coming out.” He promised to hire famous private detective Bo Dietl to investigate the claim.
Originally announced in May of this year, the book is no longer available for pre-order on Amazon. A new release date has been listed on the site as Dec. 31, 2050.
The project was announced during Diddy’s federal trial in New York. The music mogul was found not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, but guilty of two counts of transporting individuals for the purpose of prostitution. He faces sentencing on that in October.
Al B. Sure was once in a relationship with Diddy’s ex-partner, the late Kim Porter, and he promised to reveal more about the trio’s ties in the book. That included a claim that Diddy was at least partially responsible for Al B. Sure several a string of health problems and falling into a coma in 2022.
The singer and Diddy met in the 1990s at Uptown Records, a time when Sure was the biggest star on the label and Diddy was an intern.
At that time, Sure said he was married to Porter, who later became Diddy’s longtime partner and the mother to three of his children. She also had a son, Quincy Brown, with Sure, who was later adopted by Diddy.
In addition to tying Diddy to his own coma — which resulted in a liver transplant — Sure has made public comments that cast doubt on the cause of Porter’s death in 2018, which the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said was from lobar pneumonia.
RELATED: Al B. Sure! Shares ‘The Truth’ About Diddy in Peacock Doc
Earlier this year, the “Rescue Me” singer appeared in the Peacock documentary Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. He suggested that Diddy had something to do with Porter’s death, and also commented on his own illness.
“I kept a record of every single one of you who was sent to set me up, to assist in the attempted murder of Al B. Sure!,” he said in the film.
The remarks “set off a media firestorm, as he speculated about possible ties between his life-threatening medical crisis and Sean Combs,” according to Simon & Schuster’s press release announcing the book.
As we reported in May, the publisher promised a “memoir that reveals the untold story of his near-death health emergency, shocking ties to Sean Combs, romance with the late Kim Porter, and the extraordinary highs and life-threatening lows of being a pioneering New Jack Swing superstar.”
“For years, Al B. Sure! had been ringing the alarm to law enforcement officials,” the publisher added. “People called him crazy. Now, back from the brink of death, he reclaims his power and truth in this incredible memoir about finding inner peace despite countless attempts to break him.”
Apparently the singer wasn’t ready to deliver what the publisher was expecting. The page on the Simon & Schuster website dedicated to the book was located at https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Do-You-Believe-Me-Now/Al-B-Sure!/9781668208885.
All mentions of the book have been scrubbed and the page now says: “Looking for something? Sorry, the page you’ve requested has been moved or taken off the site.”
Born Albert Joseph Brown III, Sure entered a talent competition in the 1980s and was selected as the winner by Quincy Jones.
He went on to release his debut album in 1988 under the stage name Al B. Sure. His In Effect Mode sold more than three million copies and reached #1 on Billboard’s R&B charts.
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