Netflix is standing its ground in defense of co-CEO Ted Sarandos, firing back at Sean "Diddy" Combs' team after receiving a cease-and-desist letter concerning the new docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning. The streaming giant is refuting claims by the rapper's camp that his longtime rival, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, was brought on board as a form of corporate retribution after Diddy turned down an offer from Netflix.
On the eve of the release of the four-part docuseries chronicling Diddy's career over several decades, Netflix's chief legal officer received a letter demanding the project be taken down from the platform. In the letter, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, a rep for Combs claims that new footage of the beleaguered Bad Boy Records founder, punctuating the series and shot in the days before Combs' September 2024 arrest in New York, is "stolen," and that creative control of the series was handed to his longtime rival Jackson. The rep further claims that Jackson was recruited for the "hit piece" after a deal collapsed for Combs to bring a documentary about his life to Netflix.
"The program is based on fabrications borne from Mr. Jackson's personal vendetta against Mr. Combs," the letter states. "For this reason alone, Netflix must withdraw the program."
In response, a representative for Netflix shared a statement with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. "The claims being made about Sean Combs: The Reckoning are false," the rep said. "The project has no ties to any past conversations between Sean Combs and Netflix. The footage of Combs leading up to his indictment and arrest was legally obtained. This is not a hit piece or an act of retribution. Curtis Jackson is an executive producer but does not have creative control. No one was paid to participate."
The letter states that Sarandos turned to Jackson as a "vindictive response" to Combs' decision not to agree to a deal. It also claims that Jackson paid those who appear in the series to speak negatively about Combs on camera and twisted facts to heighten the tension between the two rappers. "The choice of Mr. Jackson to produce the program was Netflix's vindictive response to that rejection —an attempt by Netflix and Mr. Sarandos to ensure a one-sided character assassination, rather than a balanced and accurate portrayal," it adds. "It also ensured that a flagrant act of corporate retribution against Mr. Combs would be re-cast as one famous Black man attacking another."
Speaking with THR ahead of the docuseries' release, Jackson suggested that his fame in the hip-hop community helped open doors for the project and even secured him a meeting with Cassie Ventura and her husband. He did not mention paying the docuseries' subjects, instead focusing on the documentary's best potential. "It's about the best documentary that we could make," he told THR. "And the idea, of course, being a part of hip-hop is going to allow me access, and people knowing that I was being vocal about not being comfortable with things that went on [with Combs] would allow them to see me as a place to be safe."
Sarandos' name is also mentioned in Combs' new rep's statement as being aware that "Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way," suggesting it was intended for a future self-produced documentary. The statement from Combs' rep adds, "It is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work."
In the statement, which came from Combs' new PR chief Juda Engelmayer, Sarandos' name is again mentioned in the context of "the legacy of Clarence Avant." Sarandos is married to Nicole Avant, the daughter of legendary music executive Clarence Avant, often referred to as "The Black Godfather." "Mr. Combs has long respected Ted Sarandos and admired the legacy of Clarence Avant," the statement reads. "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 a minimum, he expected fairness from people he respected."
