“Denzel always told me, [when] we be at the parties, ‘You leave 30 minutes before the devil get there. OK?’ Always remember that Denzel would leave the parties early,” Jackson said on the “Breaking the Machine” podcast in January. A clip of the interview has gone viral since Combs’ arrest.

A source claimed in a new report that the rapper’s high-profile guests looked out for a “signal … to leave” parties before things took a turn.