The documentary, “Sean Combs: The Reckoning”, is currently streaming on Netflix worldwide.
Global streaming platform, Netflix, received a cease and desist letter from convicted felon and former entrepreneur and rap mogul, Sean “Diddy” Combs, lawyers ahead of the release of the documentary, “Sean Combs: The Reckoning”, according to CNN entertainment.
The documentary, produced by Diddy’s longtime self-professed foe, rapper 50 Cent, premiered globally on the streaming platform on Tuesday, December 2.
In a statement provided to CNN, a spokesperson for Combs also accused Netflix of using “stolen footage that was never authorised for release” in what they called a “shameful hit piece.”
In their report, CNN said Diddy’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, said that Combs has been continuously filming himself for decades in an effort to chronicle his life for an eventual documentary. Engelmayer explained that the footage seen in Netflix’s trailer, which was filmed six days before Combs’ September 2024 arrest, was part of that documentary effort.
“Sean was making his own documentary since he was 19 years old. This footage was commissioned as part of it,” Engelmayer told CNN on Monday via email.
Engelmayer also said that neither Diddy, who is serving a four-year sentence nor his team has seen the Netflix docuseries in advance.
“We will see it tonight. Neither Netflix nor Mr Jackson were kind enough to offer us a screener,” Engelmayer said.
In response, docuseries director Alexandra Stapleton said the filmmaking team obtained the footage legally.
“It came to us. We obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights,” Stapleton said. “We moved heaven and earth to keep the filmmaker’s identity confidential. One thing about Sean Combs is that he’s always filming himself, and it’s been an obsession throughout the decades. We also reached out to Sean Combs’ legal team for an interview and comment multiple times, but did not hear back.”
In their cease-and-desist letter, attorneys for Diddy threaten to take further legal action, writing on Monday, “As you are undoubtedly aware, Mr Combs has not hesitated to take legal action against media entities and others who violate his rights, and he will not hesitate to do so against Netflix.”
Combs previously filed a $100 million defamation suit against NBCUniversal for a documentary on Combs that it aired on Peacock, “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.”
In Combs’ statement regarding the overall documentary, his team said Netflix and its CEO, Ted Sarandos, were aware that Combs “has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way” and say “it is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.”
The statement added that it was “equally staggering” that the company worked with Jackson (50 Cent) for the documentary, as he is “a longtime adversary with a personal vendetta who has spent too much time slandering Mr Combs.”
Seemingly unfazed by this turn of events, 50 Cent continues to make fun of Diddy on his social media accounts.
