Netflix Defies Diddy’s Cease-and-Desist Over 50 Cent’s Documentary, Defends Ted Sarandos

Netflix claps back against Diddy’s cease-and-desist over the Sean Combs: The Reckoning docuseries, refuting claims of corporate revenge and defending co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

After Netflix received a cease-and-desist letter from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team regarding the new docuseries, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, the company is now refuting claims that the music mogul’s rival, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, was brought on to produce the series as a form of corporate revenge.

On Monday, just before the release of the four-part documentary series that covers Combs’ career across several decades, Netflix’s legal department received a letter demanding the project be taken down. The letter claimed that footage of Combs used in the docuseries, some of which was recorded just days before the rapper’s arrest last year, was “stolen” and used without permission.

Further, Combs’ rep claimed that creative control of the series was given to Jackson specifically to create a “hit piece” as revenge against Combs over a failed deal to bring a documentary about his life to the streaming platform.

“The program is based on fabrications borne from Mr. Jackson’s personal vendetta against Mr. Combs,” reads the letter. “For this reason alone, Netflix must withdraw the program.”

Combs’ team’s letter claims that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos specifically reached out to Jackson as a “vindictive response” to Combs’ decision not to agree to a deal with the streamer. It also asserts that Jackson paid those who appear in the docuseries to speak negatively about Combs, and to “twist facts” to play up the rivalry between the two rappers.

Now, Netflix has responded.

“The claims being made about Sean Combs: The Reckoning are false,” a representative for Netflix shared in a statement. “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.”

Combs has taken legal action in the past against “media entities and others who violate his rights,” his attorneys caution in their letter. The rapper filed a $100 million defamation suit against NBCUniversal over the documentary, Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. That film is still available to watch on Peacock.