Rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who executive-produced an upcoming Netflix documentary about Sean “Diddy Combs, addressed his ongoing feud with the hip-hop mogul and the secret footage he obtained of Combs filmed days before his arrest in 2024.
Jackson has been working on the documentary, titled “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” with director Alexandria Stapleton for over a year.
The series includes never-before-seen footage of Combs, filmed in early September 2024, discussing his legal troubles. Jackson declined to say how he got the footage.
In it, Combs appears to be in a hotel room.
“We have to find somebody that’ll work with us. That has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business,” he says.
“We’re losing,” he continues.
Six days after the footage was filmed, Combs was arrested by federal agents at a New York City hotel and charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation for purposes of prostitution.
In July, a jury acquitted him of racketeering and sex trafficking, but convicted him on two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. In October, he was sentenced to 50 months in prison.
In a statement to NBC News, Combs’ publicist said the footage was never authorized for release and includes private moments and “conversations involving legal strategy” from an unfinished project.
“The footage was created for an entirely different purpose, under an arrangement that was never completed, and no rights were ever transferred to Netflix,” Juda Engelmayer said. “A payment dispute between outside parties does not create permission for Netflix to use unlicensed, private material. None of this footage came from Mr. Combs or his team, and its inclusion raises serious questions about how it was obtained and why Netflix chose to use it.”
Engelmayer accused Jackson of trying to exploit the footage for entertainment and said Netflix’s use of it is “reckless disregard,not journalism.”
Combs’ legal team sent Netflix a cease-and-desist letter on Monday.
Netflix said it legally obtained the footage and has the necessary rights for it, directing NBC News to a statement from Stapleton.
“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,” the director said. “We also reached out to Sean Combs’ legal team for an interview and comment multiple times, but did not hear back.”
Jackson, who has publicly feuded with Combs over the years,explained why he wanted to executive-produce the documentary.
“If I didn’t say anything, you could assume that all of hip hop culture is comfortable with his actions or what they’re depicting them as, the person he is, because no one said anything,” he said.
When asked about the decades-long tension with the hip-hop mogul, Jackson said there is no “beef” between them.
“Let’s stop for a second and do say that I hated him enough to hire his kids, and we’ve never done anything to each other, so it’s just competitive energy and things that you say about other artists while you’re in hip hop culture,” he explained.
Quincy Brown, Combs’ eldest son, appeared in “Power Book III: Raising Kanan,” and Justin Combs was cast in “Power Book II: Ghost” — TV shows produced by Jackson.
“Sean Combs: The Reckoning” debuts on Netflix on Tuesday.
Adam Reiss and Minyvonne Burke contributed.
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