Sean 'Diddy' Combs Files $100M Defamation Suit Against NBC

Sean “Diddy” Combs, facing a May trial for sex-trafficking and other charges, has filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal and Peacock. The rapper claims the documentary Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy, which premiered January 14 on the streaming platform, presents a slew of false and damaging statements about him.

The 90-minute film features interviews with former employees, collaborators, ex-bodyguards, and alleged victims, exploring accusations of violence and abuse spanning decades, alongside investigations into the deaths of Notorious B.I.G. and Kim Porter, Combs’ longtime partner and mother to several of his children.

In the 17-page complaint lodged in New York state court, Combs argues that NBC has betrayed its near-century-long reputation as a trusted news source by exploiting public interest in his upcoming trial for profit. 

The suit contends the documentary knowingly includes fabricated claims or shows reckless disregard for their truth, asserting that it portrays Combs as a serial criminal guilty of murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking. It further accuses the film of branding him a “monster” and “an embodiment of Lucifer,” drawing comparisons to Jeffrey Epstein, all while bypassing many of the specific allegations of rape and drug-fueled “freak offs” raised in lawsuits over the past year, starting with one from his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

Ventura, who dated Combs off and on from 2007 to 2018, sued him for rape in November 2023 and the exes settled within 24 hours. The “Me and U” singer’s explosive domestic violence allegations were corroborated by a shocking hotel surveillance video, which led to other alleged victims coming forward

However, Combs’ lawyers argue in their complaint that the doc accused their client of “murdering the love of his life and mother to his children” despite the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office finding that she died from natural causes and that there has “never been any evidence of foul play.”

NBC, however, did air the coroner’s determinations and said in the doc that the Los Angeles Police Department found that there was “no criminal involvement in Kim Porter’s death.”