Netflix defended its docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning after a spokesperson for the music mogul labeled the project “illegal.”
“The claims being made about Sean Combs: The Reckoning are false. The project has no ties to any past conversations between Sean Combs and Netflix,” a Netflix spokesperson told Us Weekly in a Tuesday, December 2, statement. “The footage of Combs leading up to his indictment and arrest were legally obtained. This is not a hit piece or an act of retribution. Curtis Jackson [50 Cent] is an executive producer but does not have creative control. No one was paid to participate.”
Netflix’s comments come one day after a rep for Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is currently serving a 50-month prison sentence after being convicted on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution, called the doc a “shameful hit piece” in a statement to Us.
“Mr. Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way,” the statement continued. “It is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.”
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Regarding 50 Cent’s involvement in The Reckoning, which includes never-before seen footage of Diddy as well as the musings of multiple associates, the statement read, “It is equally staggering that Netflix handed creative control to Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson – a longtime adversary with a personal vendetta who has spent too much time slandering Mr. Combs.” (50 Cent has been in a well-documented public feud with Diddy since the early 2000s.)
The statement was also issued with a cease and desist letter addressed to the streamer.
Director of The Reckoning, Alexandria Stapleton, previously said she had acquired footage of Diddy for use legally. “It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights,” she stated to Netflix’s Tudum last month. “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.”
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The documentary includes the thoughts of former collaborators and peers who comment on Diddy’s professional pursuits, including Kirk Burrowes who cofounded Bad Boy records with Diddy in 1993. “He wanted to be in the flashy, swaggy music industry,” says Burrowes. “He started off dancing, wanting to be in videos. Wanting to be a pop-culture mover and shaker at a time where things were changing. Hip-hop was evolving.”
Another topic covered in the series includes Diddy’s alleged plan to move $200 million ahead of his September 2024 arrest on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, (Diddy pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all allegations against him. He was ultimately acquitted of the sex trafficking and racketeering charges.)
Sean Combs: The Reckoning is now streaming on Netflix.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
