A new documentary on Sean 'Diddy' Combs landed on Netflix this week, with many viewers wondering exactly how 50 Cent got hold of the exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.
The 56-year-old music mogul landed himself a four-year prison sentence earlier this year, being found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. A number of troubling details about the celebrity's life came to light during the lengthy trial in New York.
The new documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning explores even more shocking allegations about Diddy's life, including claims that he was involved in the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996.
If you haven't heard, 50 Cent was one of the executive producers behind the documentary, something which perhaps isn't a surprise given their long-standing beef, which Combs' reps are less than happy about.
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Anyone who's been watching along since the doc first dropped will no doubt have been questioning how a personal adversary of Diddy was able to get his hands on so many private videos of the I'll Be Missing You singer, certainly from a legal standpoint.
However, as you'd expect from a streaming giant, it seems as if everything was done above board, and it may well have been Diddy's fault.
It turns out that the music producer was planning a documentary of his own but, according to British-American journalist Rob Shuter, he allegedly forgot to pay the videographer for his services and also failed to sign any sort of contract.
Naturally, this probably left the videographer with a bitter taste in his mouth and when the allegations first came to light, who better to sell the footage to than a multi-millionaire well-known for his public outbursts about Diddy? That's certainly what Shuter is claiming happened.
Claiming to 'have been around Diddy back in the day', the journalist wrote on his Substack: "I was shocked at how sloppy he was when it came to paperwork. He always had photographers and video crews trailing him — everywhere, all the time — but because he was cheap, he refused to do formal contracts.
"He just expected loyalty. He expected silence. And at the time, he was so powerful no one dared release anything without his approval.
"(...)When you go to jail and suddenly someone is offering the cameraman money for footage? Honey, that’s not betrayal — that’s a business opportunity. And it is absolutely Diddy’s own fault.
"(...)Let’s be real: Netflix is a multibillion-dollar corporation. They don’t air a single still photo without teams of lawyers clearing every frame and every copyright. The director insists they obtained it legally — and my industry sources back that up.
"So is it unfair? Maybe.
"Illegal? Doubtful.
"Surprising? Not at all."
Shuter's claims are backed up by Netflix themselves, with director Alexandria Stapleton explaining how they 'moved heaven and Earth' in the process of attaining it legally.
She said: "It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights. 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.”
50 Cent added that Combs was simply 'documenting himself on his way to jail'.
In response to the initial announcement for the documentary produced by 50 Cent, Diddy's reps said at the time: "Netflix's so-called 'documentary' is a shameful hit piece. Today's GMA teaser confirms that Netflix relied on stolen footage that was never authorised for release.
"As Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos know, Mr. Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story, in his own way. It is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.
"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."
LADbible has reached out to Netflix, Rob Shuter and Diddy's reps for comment.
Sean Combs: The Reckoning is available to watch on Netflix now.
Topics: 50 Cent, Celebrity News, Diddy, Netflix
James Moorhouse