Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal over the media company’s recent documentary “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.”
The lawsuit, filed in New York state court on Wednesday, accuses NBC of “shamelessly” airing “falsehoods,” including that Combs sexually assaulted minors — an allegation in the documentary that Combs says was “based entirely on a false claim by an anonymous interviewee.”
Combs also says in the lawsuit that the documentary “maliciously” accuses him of murdering a series of rivals and close friends, including longtime partner Kimberly Porter, rappers Christopher “Biggie” Wallace, and Heavy D, given name Dwight Arrington Myers.
“In the Documentary, Defendants accuse Mr. Combs of horrible crimes, including serial murder and sexual assault of minors — knowing that there is not a shred of evidence to support them,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also names Peacock TV and Ample Entertainment as defendants. Peacock, an NBC subsidiary, streamed the documentary, and Ample was the production company responsible for producing it.
The defendants worked together to “line their own pockets at the expense of truth, decency, and basic standards of professional journalism,” the lawsuit says of the documentary, which first aired in January.
“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,” Combs’ attorney, Erica Wolff, said in a statement. “Grossly exploiting the trust of their audience and racing to outdo their competition for the most salacious Diddy exposé.”
Combs is awaiting trial in Manhattan on federal charges including racketeering and sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual abuse in his criminal case and in multiple lawsuits accusing him of drugging and assaulting men and women over the past two decades.
The lawsuit Combs filed on Wednesday takes aim at portions of the documentary he says make false allegations against him, addressing each in strong language and lengthy detail.
Combs accuses the documentary of implying he had sex with minors — an allegation he says is based on a single interviewee who falsely claimed he saw two girls follow him into a room. The documentary includes the interviewee’s “groundless speculation that ‘for sure they were underage.’,” the lawsuit says.
The allegation was likely “rehashed from a baseless lawsuit seeking $30 million,” Combs’ lawsuit says, in an apparent reference to a November, 2023 lawsuit filed against him by ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
That lawsuit “has already been discredited by those adult women in their 30s referenced in that lawsuit who have come forward to say that they were adults at the time,” Combs argues.
The rap entrepreneur takes special issue in his lawsuit with a suggestion in the documentary that Combs was responsible for Porter’s death.
“The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office has confirmed that her death was from natural causes and that there has never been any evidence of foul play,” Combs’ lawsuit says.
“The Documentary advances the false narrative that it cannot be a ‘coincidence’ that Ms. Porter and others in Mr. Combs’s orbit have died, in a malicious attempt to insinuate that Mr. Combs murdered them.” S: Business Insider
