Video recorded at the request of Sean “Diddy” Combs is now at the center of a cease-and-desist by the disgraced media mogul to Netflix.
In 2024, Combs had been waiting to be arrested on sex-trafficking charges and had a videographer record his final days of freedom. The footage included a discussion he had with his legal team, The New York Times reported.
But that footage eventually found its way into the hands of a documentary team run by rival 50 Cent and is now part of a series released by Netflix called “Sean Combs: The Reckoning.”
Combs’ legal team sent the streaming service a cease-and-desist letter on Monday, demanding that the four-episode series be pulled, claiming that the footage was illicitly provided to Netflix in violation of contracts.
The team said using the video would be a copyright violation and had “privileged communications” between Combs and lawyers.
They also said Combs was working on his own documentary.
Netflix said, according to the Times, filmmakers got the video legally and had the “necessary rights” to it.
In a Netflix news release, documentary director Alexandria Stapleton said of the footage, It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights. 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.”
50 Cent, who is an executive producer of the project, said in the same news release, “I don’t think you can get closer. He was documenting himself on his way to jail.”
Combs was convicted of prostitution-related crimes, but was acquitted of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. He was sentenced to more than four years in prison and is serving time at a federal prison in New Jersey. He is appealing the conviction.