P Diddy’s alleged links to the death of Tupac Shakur are back in the public eye after 50 Cent released a new Netflix documentary about the controversial rap mogul.
Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson’ and Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs have been engaged in a decades-long feud with one another, with Jackson acting as an Executive Producer on a new project.
The four-part Netflix documentary, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, has been a huge hit, beating Stranger Things in the streamer’s UK and US charts, with fans fascinated by its insights around the illegal ‘white parties’ Diddy is accused of throwing.
It comes in the wake of Diddy being sentenced to four years behind bars after being found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
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One of the doc's most shocking parts, however, is Diddy’s alleged connection to the death of Tupac Shakur, as the man accused of killing Tupac specifically names Combs in the doc.
What is Diddy’s supposed link to Tupac’s death?
Diddy was one of the founders of rap label Bad Boys Records. Several former employees, and even his co-founder Kirk Burrowes, allege in the Netflix doc that he not only ripped off artists but played a key role in escalating tensions in the West Coast vs East Coast hip hop rivalry that defined the 90s.
One of the core parts of this was a rivalry between Bad Boys Records and Suge Knight’s Death Row Records, which eventually bled into a gang war between LA gangs, the Crips and Bloods.
The documentary alleges that 56-year-old Diddy had a key role in this, stating that he was linked to Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis, a drug kingpin who is awaiting trial for the murder of Tupac.
An influential rapper on Death Row Records, Tupac was shot and killed at the age of 25 in 1996, hours after attacking Davis’s nephew.
Davis alleges in police interviews shown in the documentary that this was not his primary motivation, however, alleging that Diddy placed a $1 million bounty on the head of both Tupac and Suge Knight.
In addition to this, Burrowes said: "I think that Sean now in my mature mind had a lot to do with the death of Tupac."
What has Davis said about Diddy’s involvement, and what has the rap mogul said in response?
Davis claimed in the footage that Diddy had announced to a 'whole room full of Crips' that he would give 'anything' for the deaths of Tupac and Suge Knight.
This accusation was separate from his claim that Diddy offered $1m for their deaths.
Diddy has always denied involvement in the death of Tupac and has never been charged in connection with the rapper’s death.
Speaking about the allegations in an appearance on The Breakfast Club in 2016, he said: “We don’t talk about things that are nonsense. We don’t even entertain nonsense.
“So we’re not even going to go there, with all due respect.”
The jailed mogul’s team have also hit out at the Netflix documentary, saying: “Netflix is plainly desperate to sensationalise every minute of Mr Combs's life, without regard for truth, in order to capitalise on a never-ending media frenzy.
“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.”
They also claimed there was footage 'never intended for release' stolen from a project Combs had been working on to tell his own life story.
Netflix released a response saying: “The claims being made about Sean Combs: The Reckoning are false.
"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 were 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."
Sean Combs: The Reckoning is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: 50 Cent, Netflix, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries, Diddy, Celebrity
Michael Slavin