Yahoo Lifestyle Sean “Diddy” Combs Slaps NBCUniversal With $100M Defamation Suit Over ‘Making Of A Bad Boy’ Documentary
Set to go on trial in May on sex-trafficking charges and more, Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday has taken a $100 million swing at NBCUniversal and Peacock over what the rapper terms an “outrageous set of fresh lies and conspiracy theories.”
Specifically, the much accused Bad Boy Records founder is upset about how he was depicted and described in the damning Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy documentary that launched January 14 on the streamer.
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“For nearly a century, NBC has been a trusted name in news, a leader in broadcasting important stories to citizens who depend on reputable media to stay informed,” proclaims the jury-trial-seeking defamation complaint, filed today in New York state court. “Grossly exploiting this trust and shamelessly capitalizing on the public’s insatiable appetite for content about Mr. Combs in the lead up to his criminal trial, Defendants made a conscious decision to line their own pockets at the expense of truth, decency, and basic standards of professional journalism.”
Filled with interviews with past employees, collaborators, ex-bodyguards, alleged victims and more, the 90-minute Making of a Bad Boy delves into claims of decades of violence and abuse by Combs, as well as looks into the deaths of Notorious B.I.G. and Kim Porter, Combs’ longtime girlfriend and mother of several of his children.
Sidestepping most of the flood of accusations of rape, drug-fueled “freak offs” and more that Combs has been accused of in a growing wave of lawsuits over the past year starting with ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, the 17-page complaint filed today over the documentary goes on to say: “The Documentary includes numerous false and defamatory statements that Defendants NBCU and Ample knew were false or published with reckless disregard as to whether they were false or not. Indeed, the entire premise of the Documentary assumes that Mr. Combs has committed numerous heinous crimes, including serial murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking of minors, and attempts to crudely psychologize him. It maliciously and baselessly jumps to the conclusion that Mr. Combs is a ‘monster’ and ‘an embodiment of Lucifer’ with ‘a lot of similarities’ to Jeffrey Epstein.”
With all that to digest, reps for NBCU did not respond to request for comment when contacted by Deadline about the lawsuit. If the company does respond, this post will be updated.
Combs’ side, on the other hand, had a lot to say outside of the document that was put in the Empire State docket.
“As described in today’s lawsuit, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Peacock TV, LLC, and Ample LLC made a conscious decision to line their own pockets at the expense of truth, decency, and basic standards of professional journalism,” attorney Erica Wolff told Deadline after the suit was filed.
“Grossly exploiting the trust of their audience and racing to outdo their competition for the most salacious Diddy exposé, Defendants maliciously and recklessly broadcast outrageous lies in Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy,” the lawyer added. “In the purported documentary, Defendants accuse Mr. Combs of horrible crimes, including serial murder and sexual assault of minors – knowing that there is no evidence to support them. In making and broadcasting these falsehoods, among others, Defendants seek only to capitalize on the public’s appetite for scandal without any regard for the truth and at the expense of Mr. Combs’s right to a fair trial. Mr. Combs brings this lawsuit to hold Defendants accountable for the extraordinary damage their reckless statements have caused.”
Oddly, while seeking big bucks, Diddy and his team did not ask for an injunction to stop Making of a Bad Boy from continuing to be available on Peacock or other NBCU properties.
Combs is facing dozens of civil suits over sexual assault, abuse and more, including claims he raped a 10-year-old boy, that he and Jay-Z and an unnamed female celebrity repeatedly raped a 13-year-old in 2000, and in an action filed February 12 that Combs “drugged and forcefully raped” a busker musician he met outside a New York City nightclub in 2022. Like many of the civil suits Combs faces, that most recent one was filed by Houston-based lawyer Tony Buzbee.
As all that plays out and the criminal trial looms, Combs has been behind bars at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his September 16 arrest. Failing on several occasions to get released on $50 million bail, he is set to go to trial on racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution charges starting May 5.
If found guilty, the 55-year-old Combs is looking at life in prison.
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