In the lead-up to the release of the Netflix docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning, the rapper himself called out the streamer and the creative team behind the show. One of the biggest issues that the currently incarcerated rapper has with the production involves some of its footage, as he claimed it was “stolen” from his camp for the doc. That allegation has since been denied by the series’ director as well as producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Now, the pair are weighing in on Diddy having that footage filmed in the first place.
Director Alexandria Stapleton and 50 Cent have been promoting their new doc as of late and, with that, they recently spoke with GQ. The pair were faced with questions regarding exactly how they procured the previously mentioned footage. When neither Fiddy nor Stapleton divulged their source, they were subsequently asked about why they thought Diddy would feel the need to commission the footage at the center of this conflict in the first place. That prompted the “P.I.M.P.” performer to share the following assessment:
To be honest, I don't know why somebody would want to do that. When I saw it was like, ‘Oh, shit. Wow.’
For context, the footage in question was reportedly recorded over the course of the six days ahead of Sean Combs’ arrest in September 2024. Combs’ camp alleged that the Grammy winner was recording the video for his own purposes, though specifics on that front were not provided. Alexandria Stapleton’s doc covers Combs’ rise within the music business as well as his fall from grace. For her part, Stapleton brought up a documentary-related point while weighing in on why it tracks that Comb would film himself:
Well, what's interesting is that, I don't know if you remember, but during his sentencing, he actually released a documentary that he made to represent his life as a video to support in his defense that was released to the public. I mean, I think you can tell that Sean is a person who likes to film himself. He had a whole 10-year run in reality programming, right? I don't know what the end result is, but I think that it is fair to say that he likes to control his own narrative and wants to always be the person that is going to author his story.
Stapleton and Jackson previously suggested they’d received the footage from a filmmaker, though they stressed that they’d gone to great lengths to protect their source. As that person’s identity remains a mystery, Combs still isn’t hiding his dissatisfaction with The Reckoning. His mother, Janice Combs, is also unhappy with the series, and she released a statement in which she fired back at claims made in the doc about her being an “abusive” parent.
50 Cent – who allegedly received flowers from Combs recently – has also been discussing his decision to produce this documentary. Fiddy explained that his long-running beef with Diddy had nothing to do with his decision to produce the series. The G-Unit alum said he was motivated to make the series, because he wanted to show that Diddy’s reported actions weren’t necessarily condoned by the hip-hop music community as a whole.
Speaking of those offenses, Diddy was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution at the conclusion of his trial this past summer. He’s currently serving out the remainder of a four-year sentence at FCI Fort Dix. In the meantime, Sean Combs: The Reckoning – complete with the highly debated footage – is still available to stream with a Netflix subscription.
