On Sunday night at the Critics’ Choice Awards, host Chelsea Handler paid a poignant tribute to the late Rob Reiner, while also taking several sly shots at Hollywood executives and stars. One particularly pointed joke was aimed at rapper-producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, her former partner, in reference to his hit Netflix series about his rap-world rival, Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Handler and Jackson briefly dated in the early 2010s after he appeared as a guest on her E! Network talk show. He won her over by showering her with bouquets. Although Handler has said that Jackson is her “favorite ex,” that didn’t mean he was safe from a jab at the awards show. When referencing the Netflix film Sean Combs: The Reckoning and his long-standing rivalry, which the “In Da Club” rapper has recently downplayed in press interviews, Handler said: “The cast of KPop Demon Hunters is here, not to be confused with Netflix’s other music movie, 50 Cent: Diddy Hunter.”
In early December, Netflix released Sean Combs: The Reckoning, a sprawling four-part series from the now-imprisoned mogul’s longtime rival. The series features in-depth interviews with those who have been around Combs for decades, shedding new light on several fronts, from the death of Biggie Smalls to Combs’ federal trial, which ended in July with a split verdict that sent the fallen mogul to a New Jersey prison for 50 months.
Jackson, who is always ready for an online war of words with a fellow celebrity, has so far remained silent on Handler’s joke at his expense during the Critics Choice Awards. However, this week he did comment on other Diddy-related news when the trailer for a forthcoming docuseries project from The Zeus Network dropped. The series will share the lives of Justin and Christian Combs, the sons of the rap mogul, as Diddy faced a federal indictment and a high-profile trial last summer.
In the brief first trailer for the forthcoming docuseries, released on Dec. 29, Justin and Christian Combs are seen sitting together, watching television coverage of their father’s trial. The two grow visibly emotional as rapid-fire footage plays, including shots of the young men’s daily arrival and interactions with swarming press outside the downtown Manhattan courthouse. The brothers exchange weary looks before a phone rings with a call from the correctional facility where their dad is an inmate.
After the trailer was released, Jackson shared an audio-doctored version of parts of the docuseries trailer on Instagram. The audio has been manipulated to include a woman’s voice reading a legal complaint that alleged that Christian Combs committed aggravated rape against a yacht staff member in 2022.
In 2024, Grace O’Marcaigh filed a suit in civil court in Los Angeles, accusing Christian “King” Combs of physically and sexually assaulting her while they were on a yacht during a Combs family holiday in St. Martin in December 2022. Her father, Sean “Diddy” Combs, is named in the civil suit as aiding the alleged assault. O’Marcaigh worked as a steward on the yacht at the time.
“This is a prepaid collect call from Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix,” the voiceover begins, pulling from the original trailer. Then, spliced in at that point in 50 Cent’s Instagram version: “…the alleged assault. Woman claims that the three masked men, when she identified one as Sean Combs due to his mannerisms and Justin calling him pups, then arrived and repeatedly raped her over a period of time. The plaintiff, a former yacht stewardess, alleged that in December 2022, while working on a yacht chartered by Diddy, Christian Combs forced her into drinking a potentially spiked tequila shot, cornered her in a room, groped her and attempted to force her to perform oral sex. She reported the incident to the captain but alleged a cover-up and was later …”
Following the federal trial, Sean Combs is facing an avalanche of civil lawsuits for alleged crimes committed against those in his orbit over decades. He has denied any wrongdoing in these cases, and his attorneys have dismissed the legal complaints as opportunistic. Christian Combs has denied the assault allegations made against him by O’Marcaigh, calling them “lewd and baseless.”
