Animal activists have accused Sean "Puffy" Combs of reneging on a pledge to forsake the use of fur in the fall 2001 fashions for his Sean John clothing line, unveiled Saturday.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is taking the rap mogul to task for apparently flip-flopping on his decision to use fur. Sean John reps assured the organization on Friday that Puffy had shied away from fur, but Saturday's runway show at Bryant Park in Manhattan included nearly 30 pieces that used fur.

"Puffy has evolved, and his clothing line has matured with him," Sean John publicist Hampton Carney said on Friday in a statement directed to PETA. "That's why he's no longer featuring fur on himself or in his clothing line."

PETA pursued Sean John reps for confirmation of Puffy's decision not to use fur after the fashion line's CEO, Jeffrey Tweedy, told the Associated Press on Thursday that Combs was no longer using fur, saying that "we're taking a new direction."

Despite the assurances, 28 designs from the Sean John fashion line incorporated fur, according to the New York Post, which cataloged such items as a mink kimono with fox fur trim, a lamb-suede sweatsuit with a lynx-tail scarf and an ostrich trench coat.

The about-face has PETA in an uproar because the animal rights group had backed off plans to protest the show after learning of Combs' supposed new fur-free approach. PETA was prepared to distribute tomatoes — stickered with the message: "throw me at a fur-wearer" — at the entrance to the Sean John show.

"We hoped, that as Puffy's people had stated, that [Combs] had 'evolved' and 'matured,' but now it seems that he will remain a Neanderthal," said Lisa Lange, director or publicity and communications for PETA.

"Puff Daddy is a role model in the hip-hop community and to his two sons, but instead of using his position to promote compassion, he is promoting violence and cruelty by showing and wearing fur. He is obviously not proud of his work as he went to great lengths to hide the fact by lying to the press and PETA."

Reached on Monday (February 12), Paul Wilmot, a managing partner of the communication firm that handles Sean John, said, "Puffy made all those decisions at the last minute. It was his choice, and he's not creating that line to satisfy PETA. He's creating the clothes to satisfy his own vision as a designer and businessman."

Wilmot said the matter, as far as he or Sean John was concerned, "is over and done with." He also decried PETA's tactics, describing them as "an activist group that threatens to act like terrorists."

Prior to the Saturday night show, Combs defended his use of fur in Sean John's "Revolution" line, even as he was showing off a coat made of Persian lamb backstage.

"It's not as much fur as we did last year," Combs said, "and it has different textures and different types of materials. [The clothes are] a lot of mixed media combinations that are really taking fashion to the next level. I'm making sure that the ladies don't have all the fun. Men can look good too."

Combs also said that Sean John is planning to launch a women's line of clothes next year.