Phoebe Tonks
With just hours left to go until Sean Combs: The Reckoning drops on Netflix, Sean 'Diddy' Combs has called in his lawyers to urgently try and stop the streaming giant from airing the four part docu-series.
The highly anticipated series has been produced by his longtime foe Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson and reportedly charts his life, while offering a ‘staggering examination of the media mogul, music legend and convicted offender’, including never-before-seen footage of Combs and his inner circle.
However, Diddy has branded the series a ‘shameful hit piece’ and even gone so far as to accuse Netflix of using stolen footage to complete the show.
Through a spokesperson, the disgraced music mogul who is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for prostitution-related charges, claimed that the footage of ‘private moments, pre-indictment material from an unfinished project and conversations involving legal strategy’ was obtained unlawfully.
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“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."
As a result, Diddy’s legal team have issued a cease and desist to the streaming giant in the hopes of halting the release which is due to take place later today.
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Despite Diddy’s claims, Jackson and director Alex Stapleton, told the Hollywood Reporter that 'the footage was obtained completely legally’, although they didn’t specify how they had acquired it or where from.
Diddy also hit out at Netflix for allowing his former rival 50 Cent to make the documentary at all, arguing that it was a ‘personal vendetta’ against him.
The pair have been rivals for over two decades, with 50 Cent even previously releasing a diss track against Diddy in 2006, however, he denies that there is anything personal about his decision to spearhead the documentary.
“It’s not personal,” he told ABC News. “f I didn't say anything, you would interpret it as hip-hop is fine with his behaviors. There’s no one else being vocal.”
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In a statement announcing the upcoming series, Stapleton elaborated on what she hoped the show will achieve and 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'.
She added: "I hope [this documentary] is a wake up call for how we idolize people, and to understand that everybody is a human being."
The documentary comes after a turbulent summer for Diddy, in which he was convicted of two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution after he flew his girlfriend and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fuelled sex.
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He was also tried for sex trafficking and racketeering, but was later acquitted of these charges which could have landed him with a life sentence behind bars.
Sean Combs: The Reckoning is due to begin streaming on Netflix on December 2.