Diddy slams 50 Cent, Netflix over documentary

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs had harsh words for his one-time friend 50 Cent and Netflix after the surprise announcement of a new documentary about him.

 

Netflix released a surprise trailer for Sean Combs: The Reckoning late last month, and the four-part docuseries — which debuts on Netflix on Tuesday, December 2 — is said to focus on the rise and fall of the 56-year-old Bad Boy Records founder. 

Diddy slams 50 Cent & Netflix documentary

In a statement to TMZ, Diddy’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, said that ‘Netflix’s so-called “documentary” is a shameful hit piece’ which ‘confirms that Netflix relied on stolen footage that was never authorized for release.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Diddy, 50 Cent and Netflix to request comment, but hasn’t yet received a response.

Diddy slams 50 Cent & Netflix documentary

A major sticking point for Diddy is his contention that Netflix is inappropriately using footage that he has been accumulating since he was a teenager.

Instead, Engelmayer says the footage should have been reserved for Diddy to ‘tell his own story, in his own way.’

He went on to accuse the streaming service of being ‘plainly desperate to sensationalize every minute of Mr. Combs’s life, without regard for truth, in order to capitalize on a never-ending media frenzy.’

Diddy slams 50 Cent & Netflix documentar

‘If Netflix cared about truth or about Mr. Combs’s legal rights, it would not be ripping private footage out of context — including conversations with his lawyers that were never intended for public viewing,’ Englemayer added. ‘No rights in that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party.’

However, while speaking to the Netflix-run publication Tudum, The Reckoning director Alexandria Stapleton said of the footage used in the film: ‘It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights.’

She added: ‘One thing about Sean Combs is that he’s always filming himself, and it’s been an obsession throughout the decades.’

The convicted rap mogul, who is serving 50 months in prison for prostitution offenses, was particularly incensed that the streamer would work with 50 Cent on the documentary, as the In Da Club rapper has long been his public foe.