Law&Crime Sidebar - 9 Shocking P. Diddy Revelations Exposed in New Netflix Doc

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Rapper 50 Cent’s new Netflix docu-series, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, has dropped, immediately rocketing to the top of the charts. The four-part series explores Sean “Diddy” Combs�� life, from Bad Boy Entertainment to his recent federal trial and shocking allegations of assault, abuse, and ties to the deaths of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Law&Crime Legal Counsel Elizabeth Vulaj joins Jesse Weber to break down it all down.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: You’re 30 seconds away from being debt free with PDS Debt. Get your free assessment and find the best option for you at https://PDSDebt.com/sidebar.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Well, as you may know, Rapper 50 Cent has been teasing a documentary about his purported rival, Sean Diddy Combs, for more than a year. But now the four-part docu series has finally premiered on Netflix. The series explores Combs' life from his upbringing, the creation of bad boy entertainment, to all of the allegations of assault and sexual abuse. since the 1990s. And it also investigates his alleged connection to the deaths of iconic rappers, Biggie Smalls, and Tupac Shakur, featuring insights from those close to him, witnesses from his

racketeering and sex trafficking trial and jurors who heard weeks of testimony. So we're not only going to dig into some of the biggest moments from this series, but also what Combs' legal team is doing because they are pushing back quite hard against the whole project. Welcome to Sidebar, Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Right now, Sean Diddy Combs is locked up in a New Jersey prison cell, serving a four-year sentence after he's convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution during his very high-profile federal trial earlier this year. A jury acquitted him of the top charges in the indictment, conspiracy to engage in racketeering, as well as two counts of sex trafficking. Now, the allegations against Combs, they have dominated the headlines since November of 2023. That's when his ex, Cassandra Ventura Fine, filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the music mogul,

claiming he abused her during their 10-year relationship. And since then, he's not only faced this criminal trial, but also dozens of civil lawsuits that were filed on behalf of alleged victims. And many of the lawsuits include claims of sexual misconduct and rape and more. But to be clear, Combs and his legal team, they have adamantly denied any and all accusations of wrongdoing. Since Combs Arrest at the Park Hyde Hotel in Manhattan in September of 2024, there have been several documentaries that have been released about the rapper's rise to the top of the music industry. There have been shows about his trial, but one of the most anticipated retrospectives is from a reportedly years-long rival of Combs rapper Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent. He is the executive producer of this project, initially teasing it with the title, Did He Do It, but the series was retitled Sean Combs, The Reckoning. It was released on Netflix on December 2nd, and it has skyrocketed to the top of the charts.

In fact, 50 Cent posted on his Instagram on Wednesday, number one on Netflix. You know, if you really like this docu-series, I'll make more, L.O.L. Now, the documentary's director, Alexandra Stapleton, said in a statement to Billboard, quote, this isn't just about the story of Sean Combs or the story of Cassie or the story of any of the victims or the allegations against him or the trial. Ultimately, this story is a mirror reflecting us as the public. and what we are saying when we put our celebrities on such a high pedestal. I hope this documentary is a wake-up call for how we idolize people and to understand that everybody is a human being.

Okay, but here's the thing. Just one day before the series was set to air, Combs' attorneys sent a cease-and-assist letter to the streaming giant, calling the documentary, essentially a hit piece, demanding it be removed. Now, we're going to take a closer look at that letter, the arguments that Combs team is making for all of this to be taken down. But first, I want to talk about some of the biggest, maybe most shocking moments from the series, and then we'll get to the C&D letter. So to do all that, I want to welcome back on Elizabeth Vuli, legal counsel here at Law and Crime, who knows a thing or two about the inner workings of the media and when things are brought in.

But you also watched the entire show. Elizabeth, it's good to see you. Thanks for taking the time. Now you watched all of it. What was your main takeaway from the series? As somebody who actively followed the Diddy Criminal Case has been here on the show. sidebar talking about the case talking about his civil cases that he's facing what was your main takeaway yeah there were a couple of takeaways i think it was um really sort of original documentary

well put together there were four episodes usually most of them around an hour long so it's very thorough i think the two key takeaways were one everybody's talking about access to this footage and where it came from um you know one of the things that i think diddy had done was he had said he'd hired a videographer he's someone who films himself you know as we've come to know for most of his career in life. So he had hired this videographer to kind of follow him through this process. I'm not sure if the thinking was, you know, he thought that he might evade the charges and come out with his own documentary afterwards.

But just the access of footage that we get, we hear him speaking to his legal team. It's very rare you get an insight into that because, again, that's usually covered under attorney-client privilege. So speaking to his legal team, kind of his own thoughts about what was going on. Because also remember, at this point, we really hadn't heard Diddy talk much about this. You know, he had issued an apology over that video of him and Cassandra Ventura in that hotel hallway months before. But he hadn't really given any interviews to the media. He hadn't spoken about it, probably on advice of his attorneys. So getting access to that kind of information was really something that we had never seen before.

It's what a lot of people are talking about. And I think the other thing that struck me was just how in depth it went. You know, there's been a lot of documentaries and coverage on the Diddy case. People are covering allegations, him and Cassandra Ventura. But, you know, one of the episodes goes into his history with Biggie and Tupac and insinuations there and kind of going a little bit deeper into his upbringing in his career, a little bit further beyond what a lot of other people have covered. By the way, yeah, we're talking cease and desist letter here, potential legal action, maybe financial repercussions. You might not relate to all this.

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Yeah, and it wasn't even really about the trial, maybe because that was oversaturated, maybe because everybody was watching our coverage here on law and crime about the trial. And by the way, found out that my voice and a little bit. Elizabeth Milner's voice, Queen Elizabeth, were both in the documentary, I think in like episode four when it was going into the trial or in his arrest. You know, it was interesting. I'll talk more. I am curious about what you think of that footage and we'll talk about how it factors into the cease and desist letter. First of all, no attorney client privilege because if he is actively, deliberately, knowingly recording that, the privilege, anything that he says to his attorney, that's waived, right? Correct. So that was one of the first thoughts I had is, you know, he's speaking to Mark Agnifalo, who's the lead attorney on his legal team. They're talking about, you know, overall case strategy, the indictment that they expect to come down. My first thought was, you know, this, we've never seen this before. This must be privileged. But again, you forget, there's a videographer in the room. So when you think about attorney-client communications, yes, that's usually covered under privilege. But if you have a third party that you're inviting into those communications that's not necessary, you know, unless the person is an interpreter or maybe accountant. If you have a videographer that's there not for legal reasons, you can make that argument that, you know, the privilege is waived. And by the way, that conversation, the actual

context of it, it's something that we always were thinking was going on behind the scenes. There was a sense of frustration about how the media and social media was portraying Diddy and the narrative and he was like, we're losing. And he was getting a bit combative with Mark Agnifalo about what was going on. And he's like, look, I did everything. You said I'm like a basically an ideal client, a star client. I did everything you want. I came to New York. And like he was just waiting to see if he would be arrested and indicted. And that was like a bit of tension there, which I'm, it's a rare behind the scenes glimpse of what those conversations and what those moments are between an accused and their defense attorney before the hammer drops. Yes, very rare. And that's, I think, one of

things that struck me and what a lot of people are talking about. Again, you don't usually get a window into that. I think the push and pull was, you know, in one of in the conversation mark ignifalo had said look an indictment hasn't been dropped yet the indictment came down september 16th of last year so and mark ignifalo had said it's mid-september at that point so i think the indictment was really just about to drop so at that point you have diddy who you know he said look i've come to new york i've basically surrendered you know his legal team is taking the position you have to cooperate and kind of show that you're here ready to take this head on but then did he's sort of saying you know we need to get someone out there on the comms front

as somebody who is, in his words, has dealt with the dirty side of media and propaganda. So I think what Diddy was trying to say was, you know, there's no, there's nothing to be done legally on the criminal front because no indictment had been dropped yet. But in the court of public opinion, it seemed like he wanted to take a more aggressive approach to put a certain message out there. And his attorney seemed to kind of think the opposite. And just to be clear, so the documentary begins with this shot of Combs in his hotel room in New York.

This is, I believe, just six days before his arrest last year. turns out Combs had hired this videographer to film him while he's in New York. The documentaries producers got their hands on this footage, and he's talking on speakerphone with Mark Ignifalo, this high-powered attorney, who was, by the way, just one of several lawyers he would have on his multi-person legal team, and says that more needs to be done to help his public image, that it appeared to him like they were losing. And remember, again, this is before he was officially indicted and arrested. Now, apparently he knew it was coming.

He'd been under investigation for months at this point. In a statement to NBC News, Combs publicist Judah Engelmeyer said, quote, the footage was created for an entirely different purpose under an arrangement that was never completed and no rights were ever transferred to Netflix. 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. Now, Elizabeth, we're going to talk more about what Combs' legal team has to say in this cease and desist letter. But what's your reaction to that? Yeah, it's hard to say because there's still such a big question mark in the air because, you know, Curtis Jackson, AK 50 Cent, is one of the executive producers on this series. Him, the director, Netflix in general, is not saying where they got this footage, only that it was obtained legally. Diddy side is saying, this is coming from a videographer I hire it. I know we'll get into the cease and desist. One of the arguments they make is, you know, this is subject to NDAs or agreements that the videographer had signed with Diddy because he was, you know, employed by Diddy and therefore

the footage belongs to Diddy. That's the argument that they're making. So it's difficult to say because Netflix is not really saying how or where they got this footage from. One of things that they did say was that it was sent to them legally. So, you know, if you have the videographer sending the footage to them physically, that would be fine, but it does leave a question mark about where the legal rights are coming from. The only really really avenue I see is if there's some way that the videographer had obtained a license for the footage, then the videographer would have the ability to take that license and then transfer the footage over to Netflix. But if the footage belongs to Diddy, then that's a little bit

tough. That's a good point. Okay, let's keep that in mind. We'll talk about that in a minute. I do want to talk about the content of the series. So the series featured interviews with many people who were at one point in Combs' Inner Circle. This includes Aubrey O'Day, who is a member of the girl group Danity Kane, which was created on Combs MTV show Making the Band. She has since accused Combs of basically grooming her, firing her for refusing to give in to his alleged sexual advances. We have Albee Shore, singer, songwriter, former record executive, dated Kim Porter before she was in a relationship with Combs. There's Roger Bonds, one of Combs' apparent former bodyguards who's gone on the record to say that he knew Combs was allegedly physically violent with his then-girlfriend Cassie. At one point, in his interview with the documentaries, producers, he said of Combs,

when I first met him, I liked him as a person because I didn't know him. You have Kalina Harper, who is part of Combs group Diddy Dirty Money, released a statement supporting him after the third member of that group, Don Rashard, had filed a lawsuit against Combs. And in the documentary, Combs can be heard calling Harper to complain about the lawsuit, asking her to put out a statement. A former friend, business partner of Combs, who appears throughout the documentary is Kirk Burroughs,

the co-founder of Bad Boy Records, the two apparently worked very closely together for years. Burroughs served as the general manager, handling the rapidly growing company's funds. And according to Burroughs, when they started Bad Boy, Burroughs was given a 25% stake in the company with the other 75% being in Combs' mother's name, Janice Combs' name. And we're going to get more into why Burroughs alleges it was set up that way in just a second. But according to Burroughs, Combs allegedly threatened him in 1996 with a baseball bat, forcing him to sign over his stake. So Burroughs apparently sued in 2003. The lawsuit was thrown out because too much time had passed since the alleged incident. And more recently, Burroughs sued Janice Combs for fraud, Combs himself for sexual harassment. This is according to a report from Cinemaholic. And those appear to be ongoing, by the way. Now Burroughs claims that he was blacklisted from the entertainment industry, led to periods of homelessness. He since reentered the music industry starting pop life entertainment in 2018. This is also. So Elizabeth, there's a lot here, but what did you make of the Burroughs part where he was proving, you know, this kind of relationship that he had and that he was coerced into giving up his stake and what would become a multi-million dollar company?

I mean, I guess the allegation is basically that Diddy ruined his life. Yeah, that was a really, there are a lot of difficult moments in the documentary. I watched all four episodes, as mentioned. And that was a tough one. And again, information that we hadn't really seen. before and prior documentaries. So, you know, this is someone who had co-founded bad boy entertainment with him. A lot of the things he was saying seemed to kind of run along the theme that I think prosecutors were trying to push in the actual case was that in the prosecutor's view, this is somebody who will do anything to basically get what he wants. He doesn't really care what effects or damage that causes to other people. And it's in different ways, right? Whether it's in the context of alleged abuse, business disputes, you know, alleged sexual assaults, things that have

been alleged in the civil lawsuits against him. And I think with Burroughs, it was really, you know, kind of seemed to strike that theme as well because he's saying, you know, he had forced me out of the stake of my company. You know, he had to deal with things like homelessness while in the 2000s and 2010s Diddy was really prospering, you know, music, business, fashion. And one of the things that he had said, what he alleged in the documentary, and again, this is an allegation from him was that the name, Bad Boy Entertainment, you know, Combs' name was not really involved in that on the corporate side. And one of the things he's saying is the reason for that was to avoid having to pay any liability from, you know, the devastating basketball game that had happened

in the early 90s, you know, where he was the subject of wrongful death lawsuits because of the multiple deaths that had occurred as a result of that basketball game that Diddy was behind organizing. So that was really, you know, surprising to hear. Yeah, that was a big, Big allegation, because the families of the victims killed in that, that stampede, it was horrible. We're talking about December 28, 1991. Combs, fellow rapper Heavy-D, they hosted this charity basketball game. The game took place at the gymnasium of the City College of New York. And according to the New York Daily News, before the basketball game started, people who weren't let inside, they broke a window, swarmed toward the entrance of the gym, all went down a staircase.

The doors at the bottom of those stairs opened towards the stairs, not towards the gym. So once a crowd got down there, they couldn't get the doors open and people started being crushed. Nine people died. Dozens of others were injured. And there were no criminal charges that were ever filed against anyone for the stampede. But multiple families and injured victims, they filed lawsuits. And that's just one part, right? So I actually wanted to get into this, too.

The docu series devoted a lot of time to the killings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. And Combs alleged connections to this, to both men, obviously knew both of them. So there have been accusations. made in the past that Combs' involvement in the East Coast, West Coast rap feud of the 90s, there was more than just talk, that it could have involved things like hit orders. Now, to be clear, these are allegations. There's no evidence to suggest this. This series, though, it emphasizes that he has never been investigated or charged regarding

their assassinations. Nevertheless, several interviewees during this documentary expressed that Combs' actions seems suspicious in hindsight. The documentary plays part of an interview that D. Davis did with investigators, looking into Tupac's murder, which had become a cold case. And on the tapes, Keefee D says that Combs agreed to pay him if he killed Tupac and also rival record label head Shug Knight. Now, Davis allegedly admitted that his nephew Orlando Anderson was the one who shot

the men killing Tupac, injuring Knight. But Davis says Combs never came through with any payment. And by the way, Davis is currently awaiting trial for Tupac's murder in Las Vegas. Combs has always denied any involvement in the assassination. That was a big moment, I would say, Elizabeth, that was a big part of this. I didn't know that was going to be a part of this documentary. I was really surprised as well. So I believe it's the second episode that dedicates a lot of time to it.

And like you said, there have been insinuations in the past. They played video clips of, you know, Sean Combs being asked in prior interviews in the 90s and 2000s. Do you know, you know, who killed these men? Did you have any involvement? He's always denied it to be clear. These are just allegations. But, yeah, that was really, really shocking. And one of the sort of a little bit more of the backstory behind his alleged involvement,

with Tupac was that a lot of the interviewees in the documentary were saying that Biggie, who was signed with Bad Boy and who was really close with Diddy at the time, was starting to form a friendship with Tupac and they were getting really close. And a lot of the interviewees were saying, in their view, didn't, Diddy didn't really appreciate that. So I think a lot of the themes that you see again is coming up as him sort of wanting and needing to be the number one person in people's lives, whether it was personal, business. And it's really interesting because you see a lot of the themes that, again, the prosecution was trying to push forward that we saw in his personal life with Cassandra Ventura always needing to be number one, you know, not necessarily regarding the damages he's doing to other people in the prosecution's eyes, right, playing out in the business sense.

So the backstory is, is that he didn't appreciate the friendship that was forming between Biggie and Tupac and therefore, you know, that's where his alleged involvement came in. And then in terms of the non-payment, I think that was also a really shocking moment as well because that's something we saw happening over and over in the documentary, multiple people who were saying, I was treated out of my share in the company. I wasn't paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. And allegedly, that's sort of how he treated the artists that were on his label. So again, it's the theme of always wanting to be number one and, you know, not necessarily giving people their due, business sense or personal sense. Okay. So with that, I will tell you, I think one of the most shocking. allegations comes to Biggie Smalls, okay? You talk about finances, you talk about that. Okay,

one of the biggest names at Bad Boy, seemingly very close friends with Sean Combs. Well, according to Kirk Burroughs, and again, this is his allegation. According to Kirk Burroughs, Combs insisted that Biggie traveled to Los Angeles as part of an album tour. And this is despite, you know, the serious dangers that were present from the rivalries, the East Coast, West Coast. And once there, Combs allegedly decided to cancel a trip that Biggie was supposed to take to the UK, instead saying he needed to stay in L.A. Combs apparently threw a large party, and after which, someone opened fire on the car that Biggie was riding in, killing him. Now, Burroughs alleges that Combs used all of this publicity around Biggie's murder and his massive funeral to just gain his own fame for his own benefit, shooting to the top of the charts with the song Missing You, which featured, by the way, Biggie's widow.

But this was one salacious claim that I really wasn't expecting. according to Burroughs. Combs, allegedly, charged the costs of that massive funeral to Biggie's estate and had Biggie's recently renegotiated contract change to make it more favorable for bad boy records and less favorable for Biggie's loved ones after his death. Elizabeth, again, that one I wasn't expected. Yeah, it was really unexpected. And again, I think it speaks to the strength of the documentary, just at least creatively and what they were able to get in terms of the interviewees, claims that we hadn't heard before. So the claims were that, you know, had wanted, in the documentary, the interviews talk about, Diddy had said, we need to put on the

biggest funeral New York has ever seen for Biggie. And when apparently, allegedly, when he saw how much it would cost, that's when he had said, you know, we'll be charging this to the estate, allegedly. One of the other things was he had wanted to put out that song about Biggie after he had passed away. And that was really a big moment. He had performed it at the MTV Movie Awards. And then one of the other claims was, you know, Biggie was set to debut on the cover of Rolling Stone or at least be on the cover of Rolling Stone. And allegedly, one of the interviewees says after he had passed, Sean Combs had called him and said, I'm coming out with my first solo album, I need that cover. So he, Sean Colmes had allegedly taken that cover

from Biggie even after he had passed away. And again, it kind of rides to this theme of, you know, in the public, his friend had passed away. He was devastated. But sort of what you see behind the scenes, at least what the documentary is alleging, is all the different ways he's using that to help benefit him financially. And in terms of of his career, which is something that we hadn't seen before. And, you know, even myself, like, I'm sure you, you know, empathize Jesse as a millennial. We grew up seeing Diddy, knowing the backstory of him and Biggie and sort of knowing that song and thinking, oh, they were close friends.

He paid tribute to his friend. That's so moving. And then to hear all of these allegations, it really paints, you know, another picture. I remember when that happened. I remember when that happened. It was such a sad time. And to think about them dedicating a song to his close friend, I mean, it hit an emotional core. You looked at Diddy and it totally did.

different light. Now, these, again, are a different narrative, a different allegation. We're trying to piece it together. I do want to get into the jurors, okay? So let me, the jurors at the trial, before we do, let me just highlight a couple more things, and then we'll get into the jurors in the cease and desist letter. So one gripping moment in the series, I got to call it out, came when Aubrey O'Day, again, this former Danity Kane member who spoke out against Combs after Cassie had filed their lawsuit reads this affidavit from another unidentified person that detailed an alleged sexual assault against her. And in that affidavit, the witness said they walked in on Combs and another man performing sex acts on O'Day, who the witness said appeared to be heavily inebriated,

was just lying there. And O'Day became emotional when she was reading this saying she'd never actually seen this document, had only heard it read to her over the phone, and she said she had no memory of that happening to her, which is just, you know, it's a really powerful moment. Someone else who worked closely with Combs was producer Rodney Little Rod Jones, who was also interviewed for the series. We've talked about him a lot here on sidebar because he detailed several of the incidents that he previously included in a lawsuit against Combs,

including that he believes Combs drugged him on multiple occasions. He also claims that he worked with Combs for a year on the last album he put out actually living with Combs during that time, but his allegation is he claims he never got paid for his work. And the documentary included alleged voice messages from Combs where he assured Little Rod that he would get paid eventually

and that he was making a big deal out of nothing. But now I've got to talk about the jurors, okay? So we heard from two of the jurors who served on the jury during Combs federal criminal trial in New York. So juror 75 and juror 160. They spoke about the split verdict with juror 75 saying we saw both sides of it and we came with our conclusion. Juror 160 said that she never felt like Combs was being coercive toward the jury, agreeing that sometimes he would look over at them or not his head, but saying it didn't seem like he was trying to sway the jury one way or another. There were others in the documentary who clums claim that Combs had an entire PR team working outside the courthouse, making sure to speak with bloggers and content creators pushing their narrative into the public consciousness. The jury, by the way, wasn't sequestered during the trial. Some in the docu-series wondered if, despite their best efforts, they could have been influenced improperly by the discourse going on around them. But, Elizabeth, these two jurors speaking out there, what stood out to you about their comments?

And does anything that they say, in your opinion, affect the verdict? Yeah. So this was so fascinating. You very rarely hear from jurors talking publicly, especially about such a high profile trial like this, and especially on camera. So I think that was a real coup for them to be able to get these two jurors to come on camera. So I think it spoke to two things we saw in the trial. So the first juror, who's a younger female juror, had talked about, I think the issue of what she saw as a lack of credibility or the evidence that was being presented. So one of the things that she talked about was when Capricorn Clark, who had worked for Diddy for a number of years, came on the stand. She had talked about, you know, being her allegations were that she was kidnapped, that she was forced to go with Diddy when Diddy allegedly wanted to, you know, commit physical harm upon Kid Cuddy. And one of the things that the juror had said was that she found some credibility issues with Capricorn Clark, that her testimony was overly emotional, but she was testifying to things that happened a decade ago. So it goes to sort of the issue of credibility and also one of the things that she had said was, you know, that video of him and Cassie in the hallway was devastating, but domestic violence, DV was not one of the charges. So I think it kind of spoke to the issue that some of the jurors had of, you know, jurors love black and white evidence. They love videos. They love photos. They love sort of that being caught red-handed moment. So if DV was one of the charges, obviously I think he would have been convicted just based on that video. But I think she kind of spoke to the issue of, at least in the jurors' eyes, and what we saw from the verdict was, where was that evidence of coercion in terms of trafficking, sort of that physical evidence? At least they didn't see it from what the verdict appeared. And then the other juror, who was an older gentleman, had talked about the nature of the relationship between Cassie and Diddy. And I thought that was really fascinating because one of the things he had said was, you know, we heard testimony from her about how difficult this relationship was, but she kept going back. So one of the things he had said was, if you don't like something, you get out. And I think that kind of speaks to, to maybe the difficulty that some of the jurors had of understanding the nuance between two people

in this kind of volatile relationship. I know, you know, the trial had experts to come and testify about the emotional ways that can play out. But I think that spoke to two themes, the nature of the evidence and then also difficulty in kind of understanding the back and forth relationship and why Cassandra Ventura would go back, given how she was being treated. Well, we say all this to say, it's not surprising that Sean Combs and his team are not happy. about this, okay, which now we go back to the C&D letter, the C-Sindicist letter that Combs' lawyers sent to Netflix's chief legal officer. That's what I want to focus on now. Okay, so according to attorney Michael Tremonti, they had already sent a cease and desist letter to the streaming

service in July of 2024. This is before Combs was even indicted. But now they send this new letter on December 1st, the day before the documentary was set to be released, and essentially calling it a hit piece. Quote, first, Netflix's promotion of the program as a documentary is fundamentally misleading. In truth, the program is a hit piece. It was conceived and produced by Curtis James Jackson, aka 50 Cent, whose irrational fixation on destroying Mr. Combs' reputation is a matter of public record. The evidence of Mr. Jackson's vicious animus against Mr. Combs is overwhelming. He has been trolling Mr. Combs on the internet and social media for years and has made a career of attempting to defame, belittle, and provoke Mr. Combs and turn the public against him. We provided

ample evidence of Mr. Jackson's avowed hatred of Mr. Combs in our prior cease and desist's letter dated July 3, 2024. And since that time, Mr. Jackson's determination to take down Mr. Combs has increased dramatically. Simply put, there is no one less able to view any aspect of Mr. Combs' life and legacy through a fair and objective lens. Given Mr. Jackson's central role in the project and is declared objective of disgracing Mr. Combs, Netflix cannot honestly market the program as a documentary, as that term falsely suggests it is based on facts. Instead, the program is based on fabrications born from Mr. Jackson's personal vendetta against Mr. Combs. For this reason alone, Netflix must withdraw the program. Now, to be clear, recently,

50 Cent, who's been doing a media tour for this, has said, I don't have any hatred against Sean Combs. I've actually worked with and employed his sons. And so he tried to beat back against that narrative. Now, according to Tramante, Netflix had actually been in talks with Combs to make a show about him before the sudden cratering of his career. Quote, in or about 2023, CEO Ted Sarandos proposed that Netflix produced a documentary about Mr. Combs. However, Mr. Combs rejected the proposal when Mr. Sarandos insisted he give up creative control. Thus, 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. Now, Elizabeth, you know about C&D letters, right? very common in the media industry. This idea that this is in journalism, this is a hit piece, this is based on fabrications. What do you take away from this letter? Is there a strong, let's start with this part, this idea that it can't positively be called, it can accurately be called a documentary. It's improper. Yeah, it's not surprising that they tried to get out in front of this and, you know,

try to persuade Netflix not to come forward with it. I think it's an interesting argument because what they're, claiming is, you know, Curtis Jackson, AK 50 Cent, has had a longstanding, you know, animosity against Diddy and sort of vice versa. And because he's at the helm, they're arguing this can't be taken seriously. This should sort of be seen as propaganda. And one of the things that Netflix hit back with was, you know, yes, he's the executive producer. He doesn't necessarily have creative control. And that's something we know that just because you're the producer on a project doesn't mean that you have final creative say over, you know, what the tone of the piece

is going to be, how it's going to be depicting somebody. So, It makes sense that they would use their argument. You know, they're trying, and there's multiple arguments within the cease and desist letters about why they allege this is improper. So I wasn't surprised that they tried to use that argument. And again, like you said, 50 Cent has been the public face of this. He's been doing interviews about it since the documentary dropped. So I'm not surprised that they use it.

I don't think it's necessarily the strongest argument to be made because, as you know, there's so many people that have their hands on this type of project, especially, you know, one as lengthy as this. Just because he's the producer on it doesn't necessarily mean he has sort of final control of how it's going to come out. And also remember, it's Netflix. You know, they produce esteemed and established documentaries for years and years. So I don't think all the people that are involved in a piece like this are going to put it out with sort of a propaganda lens or, you know, this view to try to take Sean Combs down. The director of the

piece had said, you know, we wanted to be able to give the interviewees a chance to speak their truth and talk about their experiences. Okay. Let me go to the second argument in the C-Synthesis letter and get your take on it. Second, Mr. Jackson's malice towards Mr. Combs. is exacerbated by the payments he apparently offered to those who agreed to appear in the program. No serious studio would distribute a documentary in which the subjects were paid to offer testimonials consistent with the producer's bias against the subject. For this reason also, Netflix must withdraw the program. Now, to be clear, Netflix has disputed that anyone was paid for their participation,

and there's lots of news programs who refuse to pay participants for their interviews, but you do wonder, are there any actual legal limitations here, Elizabeth? What do you think? Yeah, so that's true. So Netflix had come out and said nobody was paid for this documentary. That's their viewpoint. Like you said, there's many news organizations that refuse to pay for interviewees. Just because it kind of goes to the credibility of the news organization, I think there's a little bit of a fine line between, you know, pure news coverage and long-form documentaries. There are some entertainment companies and production companies out there that will pay interviewees, depending on how much or that will pay for access to certain materials, photos, videos, releases, things like that.

But a lot of them don't because, like, as you said, it sort of goes to the issue of credibility. So here, Netflix is saying we did not pay anyone and, you know, we haven't really seen evidence put forward yet by Combs' team that they have. So, you know, I think, again, makes sense that they would try to use that argument. But again, you know, even if some interviews have been paid, I don't think that necessarily scrapes away at the integrity of the project. I think it's just case by case. Some companies pay for interviewees. Some don't. You know, here Netflix is saying they didn't.

And so, you know, you kind of have to take what they're both sides are saying at face value. Okay, let's go into the third argument. So the C-Sindicist letter's third argument arguably might be maybe it's strongest, the claim that Netflix broke copyright laws by using media that didn't belong to them. Quote, Netflix is poised to publish content, including intimate personal information that it obtained in violation of the Copyright Act, Mr. Combs' privacy rights, and in breach of numerous nondisclosure, non-disparagement, and intellectual property agreements about which Netflix is or should be aware.

For example, it appears that Netflix possesses and intends to re-broadcast portions of video recordings of Mr. Combs that are his property, but which employees and independent contractors illicitly disclosed to Netflix in violation of binding contractual prohibitions against such disclosure. By distributing video recordings exclusively owned by Mr. Combs and or entities owned or controlled by Mr. Combs without authorization, Netflix would be subject to liability for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act. Elizabeth, is there any grounds to this?

Because let me tell you, copyright infringement, that's where the numbers can go up. That is where you can get into serious payments. Talk to me about that. Yeah, so I agree this is probably their strongest argument. They set forth. I was kind of surprised they didn't place it as sort of the first argument within the cease and desist, because usually the rule is for any motion or cease or desist or any legal document. You start out with the strongest argument first to kind of work your way down.

But right. So that's the thing that they're claiming is that this, you know, usage of the footage of him speaking to his attorneys, having these conversations, um, violated copyright, privacy and also various agreements that they say the videographers had signed, um, you know, NDAs, non-disparagement clauses, things like that. I think that's the strongest argument. And again, you know, there's still a question mark in the air because it hasn't been proven who ultimately has the rights to this footage. You know, I would venture to say that in most scenario, in most cases, if you are an individual employing a videographer to film yourself, um,

you know, the person who, the videographer and the person who's filming likely assign rights over to the employer. That's how it usually works. So if Sean Combs does indeed have the rights to this footage, you know, and it was obtained by people behind the documentary without the proper licenses, I think there could be a valid claim for copyright here. However, if it can be proven that, you know, the videographer obtained rights to this footage, if he obtained a license, he's able to transfer it over to the people behind the documentary, then I think a strong argument could be made in their favor as well. I think if this does play out and if there is litigation filed, I think it's going to come forward who ultimately has the rights to this video. Netflix keeps saying the video was

submitted to them and they obtained it legally. So if that's the case, then I, you know, is there again a license? Is there a release that was given to them by the videographer? We know it didn't come from Sean Combs. So I feel like that would be the only real scenario is that somehow the video was able to obtain rights to it and then grant it over to them. Well, look, Combs and his lawyers, they're demanding this entire series be wiped from the streaming service. Quote, to mitigate further damage and avoid legal action in connection with the concerns we've raised, Netflix must immediately withdraw the program.

Prior to any future publication, Netflix must verify that each and every statement about Mr. Combs that it intends to publish is true and not made in violation of any contractual obligations or legal duties must conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether it is in possession of the videos or any other unlawfully obtained media must immediately return the videos or any other unlawfully obtained media to the undersigned counsel and must immediately cease and desist from any use or dissemination of the foregoing content. Now, in a statement to variety on Tuesday, a Netflix spokesperson said, quote, 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. does not have creative control. No one was paid to participate. Okay, we'll see where this goes. Elizabeth Wulai. Thank you so much for taking the time. Good to see you. Thank you so much having me. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram.

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