Sean “Diddy” Combs is suing NBCUniversal over a documentary that he says falsely accuses him of being a serial murderer who had sex with underage girls as he awaits trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court says the documentary, Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy, included statements that NBCUniversal either knew were false or published with reckless disregard for the truth in order to defame the founder of Bad Boy Records.
“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,” the complaint reads. “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.”
Spokespersons for NBC Universal and the entertainment company that produced the documentary, which is also named in the suit, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The documentary premiered last month on Peacock TV, the network’s streaming service.
“From his childhood to becoming a mogul, this raw look at Sean Combs’ journey through exclusive footage and candid interviews explores his rise, controversies and the man behind the music,” a description of the documentary on Peacock’s website reads.
Combs, who is seeking no less than $100 million in damages, has been in a Brooklyn federal jail since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Federal prosecutors say he used his wealth and influence to coerce female victims and male sex workers into drug-fueled, dayslong sexual performances known as “Freak Offs.”
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They say Combs used blackmail and violence to intimidate and threaten his victims in a pattern of abuse that goes back to the early 2000s.
Combs has pleaded not guilty. His trial is slated to start in May.
In the criminal case on Wednesday, a federal judge rejected a request by Combs’ lawyers that a hearing be conducted over 19 pages of Combs’ notes that were taken from his cell during a Bureau of Prisons sweep of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Combs is held without bail.
Defence lawyers say the seizure violated Combs’ constitutional rights, but Judge Arun Subramanian said in a written opinion that a review shows the government did not intentionally invade Combs’ lawyer-client privilege, that appropriate steps were taken afterward and the issue is moot because prosecutors say they will not use any of the information at trial.
In the civil lawsuit Wednesday, Erica Wolff, a lawyer for Combs, said NBC and the other entities named in the suit “maliciously and recklessly broadcast outrageous lies” in order to “line their own pockets” by driving viewership to the documentary.
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“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,” she said in a statement. “Mr. Combs brings this lawsuit to hold Defendants accountable for the extraordinary damage their reckless statements have caused.”
Combs’ lawsuit says the documentary “falsely, recklessly, and maliciously” accuses him of murdering Kimberly Porter, Christopher Wallace and Dwight Arrington Myers, among other notable names.
Porter, a model who had been Combs’ longtime girlfriend and the mother of some of his children, died in 2008 at the age of 47 from complications from pneumonia.
Wallace, the rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G., was killed in 1997 in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24.
Myers, the rapper known as “Heavy D,” died from a pulmonary embolism in 2011 at the age of 44.
“It shamelessly advances conspiracy theories that lack any foundation in reality, repeatedly insinuating that Mr. Combs is a serial killer because it cannot be a ‘coincidence’ that multiple people in Mr. Combs’s orbit have died,” the complaint reads.
Elsewhere, the complaint says the documentary delved into claims Combs had sex with underage girls, citing as evidence a civil complaint that’s been “thoroughly discredited.” Combs’ lawyers say the women referenced in that complaint have since confirmed they were adults at the time.
