On the eve of Netflix releasing a extremely anticipated docuseries about Sean “Diddy” Combs — produced by his longtime foe Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — the embattled mogul’s legal professionals have despatched a cease-and-desist letter to the streaming big, demanding it not launch “Sean Combs: The Reckoning.”
In a press release supplied to CNN, a spokesperson for Combs additionally accused Netflix of utilizing “stolen footage that was by no means approved for launch” in what they known as a “shameful hit piece.”
The footage that Combs’ consultant is referring to is proven in Netflix’s official trailer for the undertaking, which was launched on Monday morning.
“We have to discover somebody who will work with us who has labored within the dirtiest of soiled companies,” Combs says within the one-minute trailer. “We’re shedding.”
Combs spokesperson Juda Engelmayer informed CNN that Combs has been repeatedly filming himself for many years in an effort to chronicle his life for an eventual documentary. Engelmayer defined that the footage seen in Netflix’s trailer, which was filmed six days earlier than Combs’ September 2024 arrest, was a part of that documentary effort.
“Sean was making his personal documentary since he was 19 years previous. This footage was commissioned as a part of it,” Engelmayer informed CNN on Monday by way of electronic mail.
Engelmayer informed CNN that neither Combs, who’s serving a four-year sentence after a jury delivered a blended verdict in his federal trial, nor his staff has seen the Netflix docuseries upfront.
“We’ll see it tonight. Neither Netflix, nor Mr. Jackson have been form sufficient to supply us a screener,” Engelmayer mentioned.
In response to CNN’s request for remark, a spokesperson for Netflix referred CNN to a press release from the docuseries’ director, Alexandra Stapleton, who mentioned the filmmaking staff obtained the footage legally.
“It got here to us, We obtained the footage legally and have the required rights,” Stapleton mentioned. “We moved heaven and earth to maintain the filmmaker’s identification confidential. One factor about Sean Combs is that he’s all the time filming himself, and it’s been an obsession all through the many years. We additionally reached out to Sean Combs’ authorized staff for an interview and remark a number of instances, however didn’t hear again.”
Of their cease-and-desist letter, attorneys for Combs threaten to take additional authorized motion, writing on Monday, “As you might be undoubtedly conscious, Mr. Combs has not hesitated to take authorized motion towards media entities and others who violate his rights, and he won’t hesitate to take action towards Netflix.”
Combs beforehand filed a $100 million defamation go well with towards NBCUniversal for a documentary on Combs that it aired on Peacock, “Diddy: The Making of a Dangerous Boy.”
In Combs’ assertion concerning the general documentary, his staff mentioned Netflix and its CEO, Ted Sarandos, have been conscious that Combs “has been amassing footage since he was 19 to inform his personal story, in his personal method” and say “it’s basically unfair, and unlawful, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.”
The assertion added that it was “equally staggering” that the corporate labored with Jackson for the documentary as he’s “a longtime adversary with a private vendetta who has spent an excessive amount of time slandering Mr. Combs.”
CNN has reached out to a consultant for Jackson for remark.
Jackson, in the meantime, continues to poke enjoyable and take intention at Combs on social media, posting regularly on Monday about Combs on his Instagram.
Combs was sentenced to 50 months (roughly 4 years) this summer season by a decide after a two-month trial ended with him being convicted on two counts of transportation to interact in prostitution. Combs was acquitted by a jury of the extra severe prices of intercourse trafficking and racketeering, for which he was going through many years and presumably life in jail if convicted.
He had been held on the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest. In late October, Combs was transferred to Fort Dix, a low-security federal jail in New Jersey.
Combs is interesting his conviction and sentence.
His protection beforehand informed CNN that they’d approached President Donald Trump’s administration a few potential pardon.
Combs can also be going through roughly 70 civil lawsuits the place a lot of the dozens of accusers — a few of whom have been minors on the time of the alleged incidents — declare they have been drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs.
Combs has denied the entire civil claims. Among the lawsuits have been dismissed.
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