P Diddy is suing spirits company for focusing too much on George Clooney's tequila and not his own

P Diddy is suing a leading spirits company for allegedly focusing too much on other brands – including George Clooney’s tequila – over his own.

The rapper, whose real name is Sean Combs, has accused spirits company Diageo of neglecting his tequila brand DeLeon, claiming it has disproportionately shifted attention onto two other tequila products.

Combs filed a complaint yesterday (Wednesday 31 May), via his Combs Wines and Spirits company, against Diageo’s North American business in Manhattan’s New York State Supreme Court.

He claims Diageo ‘effectively abandoned’ DeLeon after acquiring a number of high profile brands, including ‘a whopping $1 billion’ deal in 2017 to acquire ‘competing tequila brand’ Casamigos, co-owned by George Clooney.

“Following its acquisition of these competing brands, Diageo effectively abandoned DeLeon,” the complaint states.

DeLeon

“Diageo instead focused its market positioning efforts on brands like Casamigos (with its founders George Clooney, Randy Gerber, and Mike Meldman), Aviation Gin (with its owner Ryan Reynolds), and Ketel One (with the Nolet family) as its preferred choices for the broader market.”

Diageo, which owns big brands such as Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Tanqueray, approached Combs to help market the company's Ciroc vodka in 2007, before they bought DeLeon tequila together six years later.

The star has also accused Diageo of ‘racial typecasting’, with the court filing saying: “Rather than equal treatment, Diageo has treated Mr. Combs and his brands worse than others because he is Black.

“Diageo has typecasted Ciroc and DeLeon, apparently deciding they are ‘Black brands’ that should be targeted only to ‘urban consumers'.”

The complaint claims Stephen Rust, Diageo’s President of Reserve and New Business, ‘directly acknowledged the company's racist undertones in 2019’, telling Combs that some within Diageo's leadership ‘resented him for making too much money’.

“He also admitted that Mr. Combs' race was part of the reason Diageo limited the neighborhoods where the Combs brands were distributed,” it said.

WENN Rights Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

“If Mr. Combs were ‘Martha Stewart.’ Mr. Rust said, things would be different.”

Combs argues that the company ‘cloaks itself in the language of diversity and equality’ as it is good for business, but claims ‘it is a lie’.

According to Combs, Diageo has limited its marketing and promotion of DeLeon Tequila to ‘urban’ communities, ‘unlike its other tequila brands, including Casamigos, Don Julio, and 21 Seeds’.

Diageo has denied Combs allegations of racial discrimination, with a company spokesperson telling UNILAD: "This is a business dispute, and we are saddened that Mr. Combs has chosen to recast this matter as anything other than that.

"Our steadfast commitment to diversity within our company and the communities we serve is something we take very seriously.

"We categorically deny the allegations that have been made and will vigorously defend ourselves in the appropriate forum.

"For more than 15 years, we’ve had a productive and mutually beneficial relationship with Mr. Combs on various business ventures, making significant investments that have resulted in financial success for all involved.

"We are disappointed our efforts to resolve this business dispute amicably have been ignored and that Mr. Combs has chosen to damage a productive and valued partnership.

"While we respect Mr. Combs as an artist and entrepreneur, his allegations lack merit, and we are confident the facts will show that he has been treated fairly."