In 2024, it was announced that rapper 50 Cent had partnered with Netflix to produce and share his documentary series Sean Combs: The Reckoning, detailing the career-defining allegations of abuse against the rap mogul known as Diddy and Puff Daddy.
At the time, some critics — including, Commotion —were skeptical about the quality of the documentary, considering 50 Cent is known to be a troll. But the documentary is out now, and the consensus is it offers an unflinching look at “the patterns of abuse and dominance that so easily go along with this insatiable thirst for money and power,” as culture critic Jay Smooth puts it.
Following the release of Sean Combs: The Reckoning on Netflix, Smooth joins host Elamin Abdelmahmoud and entertainment reporter Taryn Finley to discuss the series and its approach to unpacking the Diddy scandal.
We’ve included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.
WATCH | Today’s episode on YouTube:
Elamin: Taryn, it was announced that 50 Cent would be executive producing this documentary. There’s a lot of buzz about that sort of element of the story. But then there’s also some concern, I think … that 50 might not handle this story sensitively….
I should say, concern including on this podcast; I was among those people who was like, is 50 Cent the right person to handle this story? And then we get the documentary. Now that you’ve seen it, do you feel like 50 has been, maybe, underestimated?
Taryn: Elamin, you and I both. I definitely did not expect this from 50 Cent. Of course, we know him from his various shows within the Power-verse. And we know him from just being a petty person. He’s always involved in beef, and his beef with Diddy is well documented. So I don’t blame anyone for not taking this news seriously when we first heard about this documentary. But I have to say that Curtis did the damn thing with this. I mean, he put on his EP hat, and used his connections and resources to help create, like you said, a really comprehensive documentary. And I have to give a special shout out to Alex Stapleton, who … of course is behind Reggie, and Shut Up and Dribble and so many other really well-done, well-researched documentaries.
Elamin: She directed this one, yeah.
Taryn: Yes. And so, obviously, it is something that so many people have been talking about over the weekend.
Elamin: I will just look for a moment straight directly to camera and say, Curtis Jackson, this show underestimated you, and my apologies. I think we owe you an apology for that, because this documentary really did deliver. It truly did the damn thing. There is a lot of research here. There’s a lot of care here, and there’s also a lot of threads that maybe have been previously unconnected before….
Because of the trolling persona, shall we say, of 50 Cent online, people expected this documentary to have maybe a salacious kind of tone…. It didn’t have that. For people who have not seen it, what makes this documentary different, you think, Jay?
Jay: I was one of those as well, who was very skeptical about this coming into it. I mean, 50, on top of everything you and Taryn said, has his own long history of misogyny. He’s the same person who ridiculed Terry Crews for coming out with his story of assault back at that time. I still don’t have any illusion that he’s become some great principled allied of the people or anything, but I am glad in this case that it seems like his self-interest aligned with getting this out in the world — and stepping out of the way, so that the documentarian Alex Stapleton could do some really good work in this instance, I think. Not in terms of any particular entirely new revelations, so much as really, in an unsentimental, clear way, laying out the patterns of abuse and dominance that so easily go along with this insatiable thirst for money and power that we see playing out over and over through Puffy’s life. I think it really gives a lot of clear insight into that.
WATCH | Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs docuseries released on Netflix:
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs docuseries released on Netflix
A new documentary miniseries examines the rise and fall of disgraced music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Entertainment reporter Griffin Jaeger takes a closer look at the new series, which was produced by Combs’s longtime foe, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson.
Elamin: The number of gasps that I had watching this documentary were many, but the first one was, like, literally the opening shot, because we open with this incredibly intimate footage of Diddy speaking with his lawyers. It’s about six days before he gets sentenced. And you kind of go, hang on, how did they even get this footage? How is it possible that they have this footage? And then … it accrues, right? The damning revelations and testimony from people who knew Diddy intimately just kind of keeps adding up and adding up.
Taryn, there’s also some reframing of some significant ’90s hip-hop moments…. What parts of the documentary, for you, stuck out the most?
Taryn: Absolutely, a few things. I mean, my jaw was absolutely on the floor with that first shot. We’re seeing him discussing his legal strategy with his lawyers. And it’s like, how did y’all get this? Oh, he didn’t pay the cameraman, just like he didn’t pay so many of the other folks that we see as we’re watching this documentary. But also two other things. Obviously, Diddy is, according to this documentary, at the centre of the East Coast-West Coast beef that led to the murders of Pac and Biggie. This is something that we’ve heard rumours of, and have seen other documentaries and other pieces of media explore. But the way that this documentary lays it out really does feel especially damning. It’ll be interesting next year when we see that court case play out.
You can listen to the full discussion from today’s show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Panel produced by Ty Callender.
