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Sean “Diddy” Combs is speaking out as a new docuseries focused on his legal woes went live Tuesday (December 2) on Netflix. According to Diddy and his team, the footage used in Netflix’s Sean Combs: The Reckoning was obtained without authorization, framing the docuseries as a “hit piece” partly inspired by a personal vendetta orchestrated by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.
Variety shared a statement from a spokesperson for Diddy in full, highlighting that much of the footage that was recorded was intended for the mogul to tell his story on his terms. We’ll share the full statement below.
From Combs’ spokesperson by way of Variety:
Netflix is 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. 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. No rights in that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party.
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It is equally staggering that Netflix handed creative control to Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson – a longtime adversary with a personal vendetta who has spent too much time slandering Mr. Combs.
Beyond the legal issues, this is a personal breach of trust. Mr. Combs has long respected Ted Sarandos and admired the legacy of Clarence Avant. For Netflix to give his life story to someone who has publicly attacked him for decades feels like an unnecessary and deeply personal affront. At minimum, he expected fairness from people he respected.
Netflix provided a quote to the outlet in response to the spokesperson’s statement attributed to the director of the docuseries, Alexandria Stapleton.
“It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights,” began the quote. “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.”
Sean Combs: The Reckoning was released on December 2 on Netflix.
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Photo: Getty
The upcoming docuseries, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, which focuses on the legal troubles of Sean “Diddy” Combs, will make its debut this week, and a new trailer has been released. Adding to this, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, one of the producers of the docuseries, is continuing to double down on his verbal disdain of Diddy.
Netflix released a teaser clip of Sean Combs: The Reckoning, featuring Diddy speaking to someone who is presumably a member of his inner circle on a cellphone and expressing frustration in locating a legal team to take on his case. The teaser clip is dated September 10, 2024, and Combs is seen staring out of a hotel window.
While seated, Combs speaks into the phone, saying, “We have to find somebody that’ll work with us that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business,” with the moment ending with Combs passionately uttering, “We’re losing.”
In the midst of the new trailer dropping, 50 Cent is back to trolling Combs and shared a clip of his appearance on Good Morning America in support of Sean Combs: The Reckoning. The caption for the post reads, “What feud, I put two of his kids in my scripted Tv shows. I just didn’t like he said fruity sh*t to me. [frowning emoji] and he said fruity sh*t to me, I don’t like that! LOL @50centaction DEC 2 Netflix.”
Sean Combs: The Reckoning will air in four parts and make its debut on December 2. Check out the trailer below.
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Photo: Getty
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is set to produce a four-part documentary aimed at the rise and fall of Sean “Diddy” Combs. Since Diddy’s imprisonment, 50 Cent has delivered several jabs at the Bad Boy Records mogul, highlighting Combs’ legal woes.
As spotted in Deadline, Fif had teased the development of the documentary series nearly two years ago, and now, Sean Combs: The Reckoning will make its debut on Netflix in December.
Filmmaker and documentarian Alexanderia Stapleton (Pride, The Playbook) is the director of the four-part series and one of its producers. Also joining the production side, along with Stapleton and Jackson, are Stacy Scripter, David Karabinas, Ariel Brozell, and Brad Bernstein. The documentary is produced by House of Nonfiction, G-Unit Film & Television, and Texas Crew Productions.
From Deadline:
Diddy. Puff Daddy. Love. The public knows the hip-hop icon by many names — but who is the real Sean Combs? Sean Combs: The Reckoning is a staggering examination of the media mogul, music legend, and convicted offender. Born with an insatiable drive for stardom and a knack for spotting talent, Combs made a quick ascent through the ranks of the music industry with Bad Boy Entertainment and was crucial in bringing hip-hop to the pop masses and launching the careers of dozens of generation-defining artists like The Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, and Danity Kane.
“Being a woman in the industry, and going through the Me Too movement — watching giants in music and film go on trial, and to know what their outcomes were…When Cassie dropped her lawsuit, I just thought this could go a million different directions,” says director Alexandria Stapleton. “As a woman, I wondered how she had the confidence to go out there against a mogul like Sean Combs. As a filmmaker, I instantly knew it was a stress test of whether we’ve changed as a culture as far as being able to process allegations like this in a fair way,” Stapleton shared.
Sean Combs: The Reckoning makes its streaming debut on December 2 via Netflix.
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Photo: Getty
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When Juan Gabriel released his debut album El Alma Joven (1971) — which included the hit “No Tengo Dinero” — and received his first paycheck, the iconic Mexican singer-songwriter bought a house for his mother and gifted himself a Super 8 camera to meticulously document his life on and off stage. Years later, that vast video archive became the foundation for a documentary narrated in his own voice.
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In Juan Gabriel: I Must, I Can, I Will (Juan Gabriel: Debo, Puedo y Quiero), a four-episode docuseries available on Netflix starting Thursday (Oct. 30), the artists also known as the “Divo de Juárez” is showcased like his audience has never seen before: through his own lens and from his intimate perspective. This was made possible thanks to access granted to documentary filmmaker María José Cuevas to hundreds of tapes recorded by the artist himself from the 1970s until shortly before his death in August 2016.
“What makes this project unique is being immersed in the two personas: the private and the public figure,” Cuevas tells Billboard Español in an interview in Mexico City. “Juan Gabriel was music. Alberto Aguilera Valadez (his real name) was his pause.”
Cuevas explains that she relied on hundreds of home videos, concert recordings, family scenes, and intimate moments that had been stored in a warehouse for over 40 years. But the sheer volume of material — “all filmed by him and for him,” she emphasizes — became the project’s main challenge for the filmmaker, producers Laura Woldenberg and Ivonne Gutiérrez, and their team.
“Any cassette could hold a gem. There were tapes in 8 mm format, VHS, everything,” Gutiérrez recounts. “We had thousands of photos, many audio and video files, but the story was crafted by Juan Gabriel with the recordings he left behind.”
The series title comes from a newspaper headline after his first concert at the iconic Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1990, a performance that sparked great controversy due to criticism of his desire to perform at Mexico’s most prestigious cultural venue as a popular artist. This chapter in the great singer-songwriter’s life is one of the most symbolic moments in the documentary. The phrase is also included in his song “Debo Hacerlo.”
Juan Gabriel in Juan Gabriel: I Must, I Can, I Will
Netflix
That very first concert in 1990 — one of three Juan Gabriel performed at the Palacio de Bellas Artes throughout his career — will be screened at the Zócalo in Mexico City, the country’s main public square, on Nov. 8 as part of the promotion for Juan Gabriel: I Must, I Can, I Will. Thousands of attendees are expected, much like in Sept. 2024, when a projection of his 2013 show drew 70,000 people.
For Cuevas, who also directed the 2016 documentary Bellas de Noche, about legendary Mexican vedettes, the incredible aspect of Juanga’s docuseries is the timeline of his story in video, which allows the viewer to witness the journey from beginning to end. “To understand the public persona, the idol, you first have to know Alberto,” the filmmaker explains. “That story is in his songs. Alberto is the songwriter, but Juan Gabriel is the performer.”
Juan Gabriel, known internationally for classics like “Querida” and “Amor Eterno,” died on August 28, 2016, at his home in Santa Monica, California, of natural causes, in the middle of a concert tour. He was 66.
Inducted into the Billboard Hall of Fame in 1996, he built a legacy as a multifaceted artist over more than four decades, recording songs in genres as diverse as ranchera, ballad, pop, and bolero, and producing for other artists. Among his many achievements, he sold over 150 million records, wrote more than 1,800 songs, released 34 studio albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards, won three posthumous Latin Grammys, and saw more than 20 of his hits reach the top 10 on the Billboard charts, including seven No. 1s on Hot Latin Songs. His hit “Yo No Sé Qué Me Pasó” inaugurated the first edition of that chart in 1986, at No. 1.
Source: Dustin Bradford / Getty
Netflix plans on bringing Deion Sanders’ story to life like never before. The streaming platform is working on docuseries about the sports icon.
As reported by Deadline Coach Prime is taking his talents to a new network. This week Netflix announced a new project titled PRIME TIME; a three part docuseries that will detail the career of the multi-sport athlete turned coach. While Sanders’ 1998 autobiography Power, Money and Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life gave the world an inside look at his life, this project aims to explore his evolution on a deeper level. According to a press release PRIME TIME “will provide an in-depth look at one of pro sports’ most electrifying and polarizing figures, exploring his evolution from a two-sport pro phenom to a culture-defining coach and media personality.” The network adds that they will also get Deion to open up “about deeply personal aspects of his life, including his relationship with his biological father, surviving an attempted suicide, and near-death health scares.”
Deion Sanders expressed his excitement about the docuseries in a formal statement. “It means so much to finally be able to tell my unfiltered story, my TRUTH. I was PRIME TIME, then I dropped the TIME and went by PRIME, and now I’m in the third quarter of my life and they call me COACH PRIME” he said. “Y’all knew a part of me each step of the way, but you never knew DEION … and I’m excited to share that with you all — the highs and lows, the truths and tragedies, and everything in between. They can’t stop or contain what God has purposed.”
PRIME TIME is currently in production and is slated to premiere in 2026.
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Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has offered relentless commentary regarding the ongoing legal issues that Sean “Diddy” Combs faces, and now is set to bring forth a new docuseries centered on the mogul. Partnering with Netflix, 50 Cent is putting forth the series with Alexandria Stapleton directing.
In an exclusive report from Variety, 50 Cent — who promised late last year that a documentary of sorts was coming soon — will work with Netflix for the as-of-yet untitled docuseries. In a statement from Jackson and Stapleton, the pair are looking to examine the decades of Diddy’s reign in music and uncover the root of the serious allegations he faces.
From Variety:
“This is a story with significant human impact. It is a complex narrative spanning decades, not just the headlines or clips seen so far,” 50 Cent and Stapleton said in an exclusive statement to Variety. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to give a voice to the voiceless and to present authentic and nuanced perspectives. While the allegations are disturbing, we urge all to remember that Sean Combs’ story is not the full story of hip-hop and its culture. We aim to ensure that individual actions do not overshadow the culture’s broader contributions.”
The docuseries will be executive produced by 50 Cent’s G-Unit Film & Television alongside Stapleton’s House of Nonfiction company. Texas Crew Productions are also named as producers of the docuseries. It was reported that proceeds from the film will go towards assisting victims of sexual assault.
A release date will be forthcoming.
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Photo: Getty
Disney+ is tugging on heartstrings with its official trailer for the original docuseries, Choir, released exclusively via Billboard on Monday (Jan. 8). The six-part, Rudy Valdez-directed series follows the story of the kids in the Detroit Youth Choir as they prepare for a major performance. The story will take viewers through the students’ lives growing […]
ARMY, get ready. BTS unveiled a launch teaser and poster on Monday (Nov. 20) for an upcoming documentary series titled BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star. The eight-part Disney+ docuseries will take fans into the superstar group’s 10-year career, including the obstacles they’ve overcome in the journey to reach their record-breaking milestones. The docuseries will also […]
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