Disgraced and incarcerated music mogul claims footage in docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning was stolen

Sean “Diddy” Combs has taken issue with a splashy new Netflix docuseries on his life and many legal troubles, that is executive produced by his longtime rival 50 Cent.

The former Bad Boy Records executive and hip-hop star, currently serving a four-year sentence for prostitution-related charges, blasted Sean Combs: The Reckoning as a “shameful hit piece”, and accused Netflix of incorporating stolen footage.

The four-part series, to debut on Netflix on 2 December, purports to offer a “staggering examination of the media mogul, music legend and convicted offender”, including never-before-seen footage of Combs and his inner circle. A new teaser released on Monday includes a clip of Combs from 10 September 2024, as the walls of his federal sex crimes case were closing in.

“We’re losing,” he says in a hotel room, cell phone in hand, before he calls for “somebody that’ll work with us that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business”.

Through a spokesperson, the disgraced music mogul now claims that footage, including “private moments, pre-indictment material from an unfinished project and conversations involving legal strategy”, was obtained unlawfully.

“Today’s GMA teaser confirms that Netflix relied on stolen footage that was never authorized for release,” the statement reads. “As Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos know, Mr Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way. It is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.

“None of this was obtained from Sean Combs or his team, and its inclusion raises very serious questions about how this material was accessed and why Netflix chose to use it,” the statement added, claiming that Combs’s legal team had been in touch with Netflix.

Combs’s response, in which he blamed the series on 50 Cent’s “personal vendetta” against him, comes hours after 50 Cent touted the series on Good Morning America along with Alexandria Stapleton, the director. They did not discuss how they obtained the footage, though Stapleton assured the Hollywood Reporter that “the footage was obtained completely legally”.

Asked if his involvement in the series stemmed from a longstanding, if formerly low-stakes, personal rivalry – 50 Cent released a diss track mocking Combs back in 2006 – the rapper demurred.

“It’s not personal,” he said, offering a more noble intention: “If I didn’t say anything,” he said, the world might have thought “hip-hop is fine with his behaviors. There’s no one else being vocal.”

In a statement announcing the series, Stapleton said the project offers “a mirror [reflecting us] as the public, and what we are saying when we put our celebrities on such a high pedestal. I hope [this documentary] is a wake up call for how we idolize people, and to understand that everybody is a human being.”

After a frenzied federal trial over the summer that featured emotional testimony from Combs’s ex Cassie, detailing years of abuse, Combs was convicted on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution, for flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters. He was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have led to a life sentence.

Combs was sentenced to four years and two months in prison in October. He is serving the sentence in New Jersey, and is set for release in May 2028, though he can earn sentence reductions through his participation in substance abuse treatment and other prison programs. Still, his legal troubles continue: just last month, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department announced that it’s investigating a new sexual battery allegation against him, involving an incident of exposure and sexual harassment from 2020.